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Nehemiah 6

Nehemiah exposes attempts to turn fear into compromise, while the completed wall makes God’s help clear even to his enemies.

Jerusalem’s wall has no gaps left, though its gate doors are still missing, when Nehemiah’s enemies change their tactics. Nehemiah recounts how Sanballat and Geshem seek a meeting, then spread accusations of rebellion. A hired prophet urges him to hide in the temple, hoping fear will lead him into sin. Nehemiah refuses and prays for strength. The wall is completed in fifty-two days, and the surrounding nations recognize God’s work. Yet Tobiah’s ties with Judah’s nobles keep the threats alive.

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1Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),
2Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come! Let’s meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to harm me.
3I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?”
4They sent to me four times like this; and I answered them the same way.
5Then Sanballat sent his servant to me the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,
6in which was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. Because of that, you are building the wall. You would be their king, according to these words.
7You have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let’s take counsel together.”
8Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.”
9For they all would have made us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened from the work, that it not be done.” But now, strengthen my hands.
10I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let’s shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night they will come to kill you.”
11I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”
12I discerned, and behold, God had not sent him, but he pronounced this prophecy against me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13He was hired so that I would be afraid, do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
14“Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear.”
15So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days.
16When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they lost their confidence; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.
17Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.
18For there were many in Judah sworn to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as wife.
19Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Nehemiah 6:1The nearly completed wall sets the scene for attacks aimed at Nehemiah through deception and fear.
Nehemiah 6:6The accusation of rebellion turns the rebuilding project into a political threat meant to force Nehemiah into a meeting.
Nehemiah 6:9Nehemiah identifies fear as the enemy’s weapon and answers with a brief prayer for strength to continue.
Where this chapter reaches

Ezra shares the pattern of opponents portraying Jerusalem’s rebuilding as rebellion against the king. Jeremiah also records prophets claiming divine authority for messages God did not send, a close parallel to Shemaiah’s hired warning and Nehemiah’s discernment of its source.

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After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about Nehemiah’s prayer for strength between the accusation and the next threat?

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How does Tobiah’s continuing influence affect your reading of the wall’s completion?

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Questions people ask about Nehemiah 6

Why did Nehemiah refuse to hide in the temple?

Nehemiah recognized that Shemaiah’s warning came from a hired agent rather than from God. The proposed refuge was a trap meant to make him afraid, lead him into sin, and damage his reputation. The chapter identifies entering as sinful without spelling out the precise temple restriction involved.

How long did it take Nehemiah to rebuild the wall?

Verse 15 says the wall was finished in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth day of Elul. The surrounding nations recognized God’s help and lost confidence. The closing verses show that completion did not end opposition: Tobiah still had allies among Judah’s nobles and continued sending threatening letters.

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What the Bible says about fear →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).