Ezra 16 — UBES
16Verse 1Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no opening left therein (but hitherto I had not set up the doors on the gates);Verse 2that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come and let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they were plotting to do me mischief.Verse 3So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, and I shall not be able to come down, lest the work should cease: as soon as I shall have finished it, I will come down to you.Verse 4And they sent to me again to this effect; and I sent them word accordingly.Verse 5Then Sanballat sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.Verse 6And in it was written, It has been reported among the Gentiles that thou and the Jews are planning to revolt: therefore thou art building the wall, and thou wilt be a king to them.Verse 7And moreover thou hast appointed prophets to thyself, that thou mightest dwell in Jerusalem as a king over Judah: and now these words will be reported to the king. Now then, come, let us take counsel together.Verse 8And I sent to him, saying, It has not happened according to these words, even as thou sayest, for thou framest them falsely out of thy heart.Verse 9For all were trying to alarm us, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from this work, and it shall not be done. Now therefore I have strengthened my hands.Verse 10And I came into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, and he was shut up; and he said, Let us assemble together in the house of God, in the midst of it, and let us shut the doors of it; for they are coming by night to slay thee.Verse 11And I said, Who is the man that shall enter into the house, that he may live?Verse 12And I observed, and, behold, God had not sent him, for the prophecy was a fable devised against me:Verse 13and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired against me a multitude, that I might be frightened, and do this, and sin, and become to them an ill name, that they might reproach me.Verse 14Remember, O God, Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their deeds, and the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who tried to alarm me.Verse 15So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.Verse 16And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard of it, that all the nations round about us feared, and great alarm fell upon them, and they knew that it was of our God that this work should be finished.Verse 17And in those days letters came to Tobiah from many nobles of Judah, and those of Tobiah came to them.Verse 18For many in Judah were bound to him by oath, because he was son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and Jehohanan his son had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah to wife.Verse 19And they reported his words to me, and carried out my words to him: and Tobiah sent letters to terrify me.