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me mischief.
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?
4
Yet they sent
unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.
5
Then sent Sanballat
his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
15
So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth
day
of
the month
Elul, in fifty and two days.
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.
17
Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and
the letters
of
Tobiah came unto them.
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.
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
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,
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.
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,
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