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Nehemiah 6

3 Nehemiáh answereth with great wisdome, and zeal to his adversarie. 11 He is not discouraged by the false Prophetes.
1.And when Sanballát, & Tobiáh, & Géshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had buylt the wall, and that there were no mo abreaches therein (thogh at that time I had not set up the dores upon the gates)
2.Then sent Sanballát and Géshem unto me, saying, Come thou that we may mete together in the villages in the plaine of Onó: and they thoght to do me evil.
3.Therefore I sent messengers unto them, saying, I have a great worke to do, and I can not come downe: bwhy shulde the worke cease, whiles I leave it, and come downe to you?
4.Yet they sent unto me foure times after this sorte. And I answered them after the same maner.
5.Then sent Sanballát his servant after this sorte unto me the fift time, with an open letter in his hand,
6.Wherein was writen, It is reported among the heathen, and ^Gashmú hathe said it, that thou and the Jewes thinke to rebell, for the which cause thou buyldest the wall and thou wilt be their King according to these cwordes.
7.Thou hast also ordained dthe Prophetes to preache of thee at Jerusalém, saying, There is a King in Judáh • and now according to these wordes it shal come to the King’s eares: come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.
8.Then I sent unto him, saying, It is not done according to these words that thou sayest, for thou fainest them of thine Nehemiah’s constancie Nehemi owne heart.
10.¶ And I came to the house of Shemaiáh the son of Delaiáh the son of Mehetabeél, and he was eshut up, and he said, Let us come together into the house of God in the middes of the Temple, and shut the dores of the Temple: for they wil come to slay thee: yea, in the night wil they come to kil thee.
11.Then I said, fShulde such a man as I, flee? Who is he, being as I am, that wolde go into the Temple to live? I wil not go in.
12.And lo, I perceived, that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecie against me: for Tobiáh and Sanballát had hyred him.
13.Therefore was he hyred, that I might be afrayed, and do thus, and sinne, and that they might have an evil report that they might reproche me.
14.My God, remember thou Tobiáh, & Sanballát according unto these their works, and Noadiáh the gProphetesse also, & the rest of the Prophetes that would have put me in fear.
15.¶ Notwithstanding the wall was finished on the five and twentieth day of hElúl, in two and ififtie dayes.
16.And when all our enemies heard thereof, even all the heathen that were about us, thei were afrayed, & their courage failed them: for they knew, that this work was wrought by our God.
17.And in these dayes were there manie of the princes of Judáh, whose kletters went unto Tobiáh, & those of Tobiáh came unto them.
18.For there were manie in Judáh, that were sworn unto him, for he was the sonne in law of Shechaniáh, the sonne of Aráh: and his sonne Jehonathán had the daughter of Meshullám, the sonne of Berechiáh.
19.Yea, they spake in his praise before me, and tolde him my wordes, and Tobiáh sent letters to put me in feare.

Notes

1-a.
That is, that they were joined together, as Chap. 4.6.
3-b.
Meaning, that if he should obey their request the work, which God had appointed, should cease, showing hereby that we should not commit ourselves to the hands of the wicked.
6-^.
Or, Geshem.
6-c.
As the fame goes.
7-d.
You have bribed, and set up false Prophets, to make yourself King and so defraud the King of Persia of that subjection, which you owe unto him.
9-^.
Ebr., strengthen thou my hand.
10-e.
As though he would be secret, to the intent that he might pray unto God with greater liberty, and receive some revelation, which in him was but hypocrisy.
11-f.
He doubted not but God was able to preserve him, and knew that, if he had obeyed this counsel, he should have discouraged all the people: thus God gives power to his, to resist false prophecies though they seem to have never so great probability.
14-g.
Very grief caused him to pray against such, which under the pretence of being ministers of God, were adversaries to his glory, and went about to overthrow his Church, declaring also hereby that where there is one true minister of God, the devil has a great sort of hirelings.
15-h.
Which was the sixth month and contained part of August, and part of September.
15-i.
After that I had sent Sanballat his answer.
17-k.
Thus the Church of God has ever more enemies within itself, which are more dangerous than the outward & professed enemie.