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Conspiracy Against Nehemiah

¹Now it happened ⚓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 hung the doors in the gates), ²that Sanballat and Geshem ⚓sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of ⚓Ono.” But they ⚓thought to do me harm.
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 go 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; therefore, 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 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 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 at all, but that ⚓he 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.
¹⁴⚓My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the ⚓prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.

The Wall Completed

¹⁵So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶And it happened, ⚓when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for ⚓they perceived that this work was done by our God.
¹⁷Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of 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 married the daughter of ⚓Meshullam the son of Berechiah. ¹⁹Also they reported his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.

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敵對尼希米的陰謀

¹參巴拉、多比雅、阿拉伯人基善和我們其餘的仇敵聽見我已經建造了城牆，沒有破裂之處在其中，那時我還沒有在城門安門扇； ²參巴拉和基善就派人來見我，說：「請你來，我們在阿挪平原的村莊見面。」其實，他們想要害我。 ³於是我派使者到他們那裏，說：「我正在進行大的工程，不能下去。我怎麼能離開，下去見你們，而讓工程停頓呢？」 ⁴他們這樣派人來見我四次，我都用這話回答他們。 ⁵參巴拉第五次同樣派僕人來見我，手裏拿着未封的信， ⁶信上寫着：「列國中有風聲，基善⚓也說，你和猶太人謀反，所以你建造城牆。據說，你要作他們的王， ⁷並且你派先知在耶路撒冷指着你宣講說，『在猶大有王。』如今這些話必傳給王知，現在請你來，我們一起商議。」 ⁸我就派人到他那裏，說：「你所說的這些事，一概沒有，是你心裏捏造的。」 ⁹他們全都要使我們懼怕，說：「他們的手必軟弱，不能工作，以致不能完工。」現在，求你堅固我的手。
¹⁰我到了米希大別的孫子，第來雅的兒子示瑪雅家裏；那時，他閉門不出。他說：「我們可以在上帝的殿裏，就在殿的中間會面，鎖住殿門，因為他們要來殺你，要在夜裏來殺你。」 ¹¹我說：「像我這樣的人豈會逃跑呢？像我這樣的人豈能進入殿裏保全生命呢？我不進去！」 ¹²我看清楚了，看哪，上帝並沒有派他，是他自己說預言攻擊我，是多比雅和參巴拉收買了他； ¹³收買他的目的是要叫我懼怕，依從他犯罪，留下一個壞名聲，好讓他們毀謗我。 ¹⁴我的上帝啊，求你記得多比雅、參巴拉、挪亞底女先知和其餘的先知，因他們行這些事，要叫我懼怕。

工程結束

¹⁵以祿月二十五日，城牆修完了，共修了五十二天。 ¹⁶我們所有的仇敵聽見了，四圍的列國就懼怕，愁眉不展，因為他們知道這工作得以完成，是出於我們的上帝。 ¹⁷而且，在那些日子，猶大的貴族屢次寄信給多比雅，多比雅也回信給他們。 ¹⁸在猶大有許多人與多比雅結盟，因為他是亞拉的兒子示迦尼的女婿，並且他的兒子約哈難娶了比利迦的兒子米書蘭的女兒。 ¹⁹他們也在我面前說多比雅的好話，又把我的話傳給他。多比雅常寄信來，要叫我懼怕。