Ne:6:3: And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
Ne:6:4: Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.
Ne:6:5: Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
Ne:6:6: Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.
Ne:6:7: And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.
Ne:6:8: Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.
Ne:6:9: For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
Ne:6:10: Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.
Ne:6:11: And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.
Ne:6:12: And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
Ne:6:13: Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
Ne:6:14: My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.
Ne:6:15: So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.
Ne:6:16: And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
Ne:6:17: Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.
Ne:6:18: For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.
Ne:6:19: Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
Chapter 7
Ne:7:1: Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
Ne:7:2: That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
Ne:7:3: And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house.
Ne:7:4: Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded.
Ne:7:5: And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,
Ne:7:6: These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;
