Spiritually Gifted

[Know This] Promises of a Precious Faith

Don’t Waste the Wild: Discovering God's Plan in the Seasons That Test Us

The Bible in One Year Chronologically

God's Goodness and Human Free Will

Lent: The Journey of Letting Go

In Crisis but Not Consumed

Bold Faith, Mighty Works: Walking in the Spirit’s Power

Faith Under Fire

Heart Detox: The War for Your Soul by Vance K. Jackson

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="NEH.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Further Opposition to the Rebuilding</div><div class="p">1When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it&#8212;though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates&#8212; 2Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: &#8220;Come, let us meet together in one of the villages#6:2 Or in Kephirim on the plain of Ono.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But they were scheming to harm me; 3so I sent messengers to them with this reply: &#8220;I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?&#8221; 4Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.</div><div class="p">5Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter 6in which was written:</div><div class="pm">&#8220;It is reported among the nations&#8212;and Geshem#6:6 Hebrew Gashmu, a variant of Geshem says it is true&#8212;that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king 7and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: &#8216;There is a king in Judah!&#8217; Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.&#8221;</div><div class="p">8I sent him this reply: &#8220;Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.&#8221;</div><div class="p">9They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, &#8220;Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But I prayed, &#8220;Now strengthen my hands.&#8221;</div><div class="p">10One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, &#8220;Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you&#8212;by night they are coming to kill you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">11But I said, &#8220;Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!&#8221; 12I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">14Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. 15So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.</div><div class="s1">Opposition to the Completed Wall</div><div class="p">16When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.</div><div class="p">17Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. 18For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. 19Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="NEH.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="nb">1all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.</div><div class="p">2So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.</div><div class="p">4Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.</div><div class="p">5Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, &#8220;Amen! Amen!&#8221; Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.</div><div class="p">7The Levites&#8212;Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah&#8212;instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear#8:8 Or God, translating it and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.</div><div class="p">9Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, &#8220;This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.&#8221; For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.</div><div class="p">10Nehemiah said, &#8220;Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.&#8221;</div><div class="p">11The Levites calmed all the people, saying, &#8220;Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.&#8221;</div><div class="p">12Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.</div><div class="p">13On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the teacher to give attention to the words of the Law. 14They found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month 15and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: &#8220;Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters&#8221;&#8212;as it is written.#8:15 See Lev. 23:37-40.</div><div class="p">16So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. 17The whole company that had returned from exile built temporary shelters and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.</div><div class="p">18Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.</div>
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