Nehemiah 6:8-15

8I sent this reply: ‘What you say is not true. Nothing like that is happening. You are only speaking your own ideas.’

9All our enemies wanted to frighten us. They thought, ‘The Jews will be so afraid that they will not be able to work well. They will not finish building the wall.’ So I prayed to God, ‘Give me strength to continue the work.’

10One day I went to Shemaiah's house. He was the son of Delaiah, Mehetabel's son. He could not go out of his house. He said to me, ‘Meet me inside the temple of God. We will close the temple's doors. Our enemies are coming to kill you. One night soon, they will come to kill you.’

11But I said, ‘I am not a man who would run away to be safe. I will not go into the temple to save my life.’

12Then I realized that Shemaiah was not telling me a message from God. I knew that Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to say this to me.

13They wanted to frighten me so that I would hide in the temple. My enemies knew that this would be a sin. If I did that, I would be ashamed. People would no longer respect me.

14My God, please remember all the bad things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. Also remember the prophetess, Noadiah, and the other prophets who have tried to frighten me.

15We finished the city's wall on the 25th day of the month Elul. It had taken 52 days to build the wall again.