1Now it came to pass when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do evil to me. 3So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you? 4But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner. 5Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. 6In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; for which reason, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. 7And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah! Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together. 8Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say are being done, but you contrive them out of your own heart. 9For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. 10Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was under restraints; and he said, Let us gather in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will come to kill you. 11And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in! 12Then I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he had spoken this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and do accordingly and sin, to make for a bad reputation, that they might reproach me. 14My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these works of theirs, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who were terrifying me. 15So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16And it came to pass when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work had been done by our God. 17Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and those from Tobiah came to them. 18For many in Judah were pledged to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken in marriage the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. 19They also reported his good deeds before me, and were delivering my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.