Nehemiah 6:6–13

⁶In it was written:

It is reported among the nations, and ⁴Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, ^fthat 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 invent them in 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 a secret informer; and he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the ⁵temple, 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 at all, but that ^ghe pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.