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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Nehemiah 6 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/nehemiah/6.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/nehemiah/6-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Nehemiah 6</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../nehemiah/5.htm" title="Nehemiah 5">◄</a> Nehemiah 6 <a href="../nehemiah/7.htm" title="Nehemiah 7">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Plots against Nehemiah</h3><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_1"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.1" class="v16_6_1">1</span>Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and our other enemies learned that I had completely rebuilt the wall. All I lacked was hanging the doors in the gates. </span><span class="v16_6_2"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.2" class="v16_6_2">2</span>Then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message, asking me to meet with them in one of the villages in Ono Valley. I knew they were planning to harm me in some way. </span><span class="v16_6_3"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.3" class="v16_6_3">3</span>So I sent messengers to tell them, “My work is too important to stop now and go there. I can't afford to slow down the work just to visit with you.” </span><span class="v16_6_4"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.4" class="v16_6_4">4</span>They invited me four times, but each time I refused to go.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_5"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.5" class="v16_6_5">5</span>Finally, Sanballat sent an official to me with an unsealed letter, </span><span class="v16_6_6"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.6" class="v16_6_6">6</span>which said:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v16_6_6">A rumor is going around among the nations that you and the other Jews are rebuilding the wall and planning to rebel, because you want to be their king. And Geshem<a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.6.6!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> says it's true! </span><span class="v16_6_7"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.7" class="v16_6_7">7</span>You even have prophets in Jerusalem, claiming you are now the king of Judah. You know the Persian king will hear about this, so let's get together and talk it over.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_8"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.8" class="v16_6_8">8</span>I sent a message back to Sanballat, saying, “None of this is true! You are making it all up.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_9"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.9" class="v16_6_9">9</span>Our enemies were trying to frighten us and to keep us from our work. But I asked God to give me strength.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_10"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.10" class="v16_6_10">10</span>One day I went to visit Shemaiah.<a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.6.10!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> He wasn't supposed to leave his house, but he said, “Let's hurry to the holy place of the temple and hide there.<a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.6.10!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> We will lock the temple doors, because your enemies are planning to kill you tonight.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_11"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.11" class="v16_6_11">11</span>I answered, “Why should someone like me have to run and hide in the temple to save my life? I won't go!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_12"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.12" class="v16_6_12">12</span>Suddenly I realized that God had not given Shemaiah this message. But Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to trick me </span><span class="v16_6_13"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.13" class="v16_6_13">13</span>and to frighten me into doing something wrong, because they wanted to ruin my good name.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_14"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.14" class="v16_6_14">14</span>Then I asked God to punish Tobiah and Sanballat for what they had done. I prayed that God would punish the prophet Noadiah and the other prophets who, together with her, had tried to frighten me.</span></p><h3 class="s1">The Work Is Finished</h3><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_15"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.15" class="v16_6_15">15</span>On the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul,<a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.6.15!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> the wall was completely rebuilt. It had taken 52 days. </span><span class="v16_6_16"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.16" class="v16_6_16">16</span>When our enemies in the surrounding nations learned that the work was finished, they felt helpless, because they knew that our God had helped us rebuild the wall.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_6_17"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.17" class="v16_6_17">17</span>All this time the Jewish leaders and Tobiah had been writing letters back and forth. </span><span class="v16_6_18"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.18" class="v16_6_18">18</span>Many people in Judah were loyal to Tobiah for two reasons: Shecaniah son of Arah was his father-in-law, and Tobiah's son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.<a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.6.18!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v16_6_19"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.6.19" class="v16_6_19">19</span>The people would always tell me about the good things Tobiah had done, and then they would tell Tobiah everything I had said. So Tobiah kept sending letters, trying to frighten me.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">6.6 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Geshem: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew “Gashmu” (see verse 1 and 2.19).</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">6.10 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Shemaiah: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew “Shemaiah son of Delaiah son of Mehetabel.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">6.10 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">holy place … hide there: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Only priests were allowed to enter the holy place; anyone else could be put to death.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">6.15 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Elul: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The sixth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-August to mid-September.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">6.18 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Shecaniah … Berechiah: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Jews who had helped rebuild the Jerusalem wall (see 3.4,29, 30).</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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