Nehemiah 6:6–13

⁶it is written in it, ‘Among the nations it hath been heard, and Gashmu is saying: Thou and the Jews are thinking to rebel, therefore thou art building the wall, and thou hast been to them for a king—according to these words! ⁷And also, prophets thou hast appointed to call for thee in Jerusalem, saying, A king is in Judah, and now it is heard by the king according to these words; and now come, and we take counsel together.’ ⁸And I send unto him, saying, ‘It hath not been according to these words that thou art saying, for from thine own heart thou art devising them;’ ⁹for all of them are making us afraid, saying, ‘Their hands are too feeble for the work, and it is not done;’ and now, strengthen Thou my hands.

¹⁰And I have entered the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabeel—and he is restrained—and he saith, ‘Let us meet at the house of God, at the inside of the temple, and we shut the doors of the temple, for they are coming in to slay thee—yea, by night they are coming in to slay thee.’ ¹¹And I say, ‘A man such as I—doth he flee? and who as I, that doth go in unto the temple, and live?—I do not go in.’ ¹²And I discern, and lo, God hath not sent him, for in the prophecy he hath spoken unto me both Tobiah and Sanballat hired him, ¹³so that he is an hireling, that I may fear and do so, and I had sinned, and it had been to them for an evil name that they may reproach me.