19REMEMBER! TO ME O GOD MY FOR GOOD ALL THAT I HAVE DONE ON THE PEOPLE <THE> THIS 19Remember me favorably, O my God, for all that I have done for this people.
1AND IT WAS JUST WHEN IT WAS HEARD BY SANBALLAT AND TOBIAH AND BY GESHEM THE ARAB AND BY [THE] REST OF ENEMIES OUR THAT I HAD REBUILT <OBJ.> THE WALL AND NOT IT WAS LEFT IN IT A BREACH ALSO UNTIL THE TIME <THE> THAT DOORS NOT I HAD SET UP IN THE GATES Sanballat’s Conspiracy 1When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left though to that time I had not yet installed the doors in the gates—
2AND HE SENT SANBALLAT AND GESHEM TO ME <TO> SAYING COME! SO LET US MEET TOGETHER AT <THE> KEPHIRIM IN [THE] PLAIN OF ONO AND THEY [WERE] PLANNING TO DO TO ME HARM 2Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages*NoteCloseOr in Kephirim on the plain*NoteCloseOr in the valley of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me.
3AND I SENT! TO THEM MESSENGERS <TO> SAYING A WORK GREAT I [AM] DOING AND NOT I AM ABLE TO GO DOWN <TO> WHY? WILL IT CEASE THE WORK <JUST> WHEN I WILL LET DROP IT AND I WILL GO DOWN TO YOU 3So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to go down to you?”
4AND THEY SENT TO ME ACCORDING TO THE MANNER <THE> THIS FOUR TIMES AND I SENT BACK TO <OBJ.> THEM ACCORDING TO THE MANNER <THE> THIS 4Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.
5AND HE SENT TO ME SANBALLAT ACCORDING TO THE MANNER <THE> THIS A TIME FIFTH <OBJ.> SERVANT HIS AND A LETTER OPEN [WAS] IN HAND HIS 5The fifth time, Sanballat sent me this same message by his young servant, who had in his hand an unsealed letter
6[WAS] WRITTEN IN IT AMONG THE NATIONS IT HAS BEEN HEARD AND GASHMU [IS] SAYING YOU AND THE JEWS [ARE] PLANNING TO REBEL THERE- -FORE YOU [ARE] REBUILDING THE WALL AND YOU [ARE] ABOUT TO BECOME OF THEM <INTO> KING ACCORDING TO THE WORDS <THE> THESE 6that read “It is reported among the nations— and Geshem*NoteCloseHebrew Gashmu, a variant of Geshem; see verse 1. agrees— that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and this is why you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king,
7AND ALSO PROPHETS YOU HAVE APPOINTED TO PROCLAIM ON YOU IN JERUSALEM <TO> SAYING A KING [IS] IN JUDAH AND NOW IT WILL BE HEARD BY THE KING ACCORDING TO THE WORDS <THE> THESE AND THEREFORE COME! SO LET US TAKE COUNSEL TOGETHER 7and you have even appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf: ‘There is a king in Judah.’ Soon these rumors will reach the ears of the king. So come, let us confer together.”
8AND I SENT! TO HIM <TO> SAYING NOT IT HAS OCCURRED ACCORDING TO THE WORDS <THE> THESE WHICH YOU [ARE] SAYING THAT FROM HEART YOUR YOU [ARE] INVENTING THEM 8Then I sent him this reply: “There is nothing to these rumors you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind.”
9FOR ALL OF THEM [WERE] MAKING AFRAID <OBJ.> US <TO> SAYING THEY WILL DROP HANDS THEIR FROM THE WORK AND NOT IT WILL BE DONE AND THEREFORE STRENGTHEN <OBJ.> HANDS MY 9For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will never be finished.” But now, my God,*NoteCloseHebrew But now; for clarity, my God has been included. strengthen my hands.
10AND I I WENT [THE] HOUSE OF SHEMAIAH [THE] SON OF DELAIAH [THE] SON OF MEHETABEL AND HE [WAS] SHUT UP AND HE SAID LET US MEET TO [THE] HOUSE OF <THE> GOD TO [THE] MIDDLE OF THE TEMPLE AND LET US CLOSE [THE] DOORS OF THE TEMPLE FOR [PEOPLE ARE] COMING TO KILL YOU AND NIGHT [PEOPLE ARE] COMING TO KILL YOU 10Later, I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house. He said: “Let us meet at the house of God inside the temple. Let us shut the temple doors because they are coming to kill you— by night they are coming to kill you!”
11AND I SAID! ¿ A MAN LIKE ME WILL HE FLEE AND WHO? [IS] LIKE ME WHO HE WILL GO INTO THE TEMPLE AND HE WILL LIVE NOT I WILL GO 11But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Should one like me go into the temple to save his own life? I will not go!”
12AND I RECOGNIZED! AND THERE! NOT GOD HE HAD SENT HIM FOR THE PROPHECY HE HAD SPOKEN ON ME AND TOBIAH AND SANBALLAT HE HAD HIRED HIM 12I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13SO THAT [WAS] HIRED HE SO THAT I MAY BE AFRAID AND I MAY ACT THUS AND I WILL SIN AND IT WILL BECOME FOR THEM <INTO> A NAME BAD SO THAT THEY MAY REPROACH ME 13He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would sin by doing as he suggested, so they could give me a bad name in order to discredit me.
14REMEMBER! O GOD MY TO TOBIAH AND TO SANBALLAT ACCORDING TO WORKS HIS THESE AND ALSO <TO> NOADIAH THE PROPHETESS AND TO [THE] REST OF THE PROPHETS WHO THEY WERE MAKING AFRAID <OBJ.> ME 14O my God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who tried to intimidate me.
15AND IT WAS COMPLETE THE WALL ON [DAY] TWENTY AND FIVE OF ELUL TO FIFTY AND TWO DAY[S] Completion of the Wall 15So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.*NoteCloseElul is the sixth month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of August and September.
16AND IT WAS JUST WHEN THEY HEARD ALL ENEMIES OUR AND THEY WERE AFRAID ALL THE NATIONS WHICH [WERE] AROUND US AND THEY FELL EXCEEDINGLY IN OWN EYES THEIR AND THEY KNEW THAT FROM WITH GOD OUR IT HAD BEEN DONE THE WORK <THE> THIS 16When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and disheartened for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God.
17ALSO IN THE DAYS <THE> THOSE [WERE] MULTIPLYING [THE] NOBLES OF JUDAH LETTERS THEIR [WHICH WERE] GOING TO TOBIAH AND [THOSE] WHICH [BELONGED] TO TOBIAH [WERE] COMING TO THEM 17Also in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters kept coming to them.
18FOR MANY [PEOPLE] IN JUDAH [WERE] LORDS OF OATH TO HIM FOR [WAS] A SON-IN-LAW HE OF SHECANIAH [THE] SON OF ARAH AND JEHOHANAN SON HIS HE HAD TAKEN <OBJ.> [THE] DAUGHTER OF MESHULLAM [THE] SON OF BEREKIAH 18For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
19ALSO GOOD DEEDS HIS THEY WERE TELLING <TO> BEFORE ME AND WORDS MY THEY WERE SENDING OUT TO HIM LETTERS HE SENT TOBIAH TO MAKE AFRAID ME 19Moreover, these nobles kept reporting to me Tobiah’s good deeds, and they relayed my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.