is used once in Ezra (6:14), where it refers to the preaching of the true prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Here, however, “the prophecy” refers to a deceptive and false prediction, which Tobiah and Sanballat had hired Shemaiah to utter. This “prophecy” was the warning in Neh 6:10 that there would be an attempt on Nehemiah’s life at night. In Neh 6:14 Nehemiah refers to the false “prophetess” Noadiah and other false “prophets” allied with Tobiah and Sanballat, and this “prophecy” came from those opponents.