Neemias 6 - Bíblia Online

Quando foi referido a Sambalá, Tobias, Gesém árabe e ao resto dos nossos inimigos que eu tinha edificado o muro e que nele já não havia brecha alguma (ainda que até esse tempo eu não tinha posto as portas nas entradas), 
Sambalá e Gesém mandaram dizer-me: Vem, encontremo-nos numa das aldeias da planície de Ono. Eles, porém, intentavam fazer-me mal. 
Enviei-lhes mensageiros a dizer: Eu estou fazendo uma grande obra, de modo que não posso descer: por que há de cessar a obra, enquanto eu a deixar para ir ter convosco? 
Fizeram-me o mesmo pedido quatro vezes; e da mesma maneira respondi-lhes. 
Sambalá enviou-me ainda pela quinta vez o seu servo que tinha na mão uma carta aberta, 
na qual estava escrito: Refere-se entre as nações, e Gesém o disse, que tu e os judeus pensais em rebelar-vos; por isso tu estás reedificando o muro, e queres ser o rei deles, segundo se diz. 
Também apontaste profetas que falem em louvor de ti em Jerusalém, dizendo: Há rei em Judá: e agora isso se há de referir ao rei segundo estas palavras. Portanto, vem agora e consultemos juntamente. 
Mandei dizer-lhe: Não é verdade o que tu dizes, mas inventas isso do teu coração. 
Pois todos eles procuravam atemorizar-nos, dizendo: As suas mãos largarão a obra, para que não seja feita. Mas agora, ó Deus, fortalece as minhas mãos. 
Fui à casa de Semaías, filho de Delaías, filho de Meetabel, que estava encerrado; e ele disse: Ajuntemo-nos na casa de Deus, dentro do templo, e fechemos as portas do templo: Pois virão matar-te, à noite virão matar-te. 
Porém respondi: Porventura um homem como eu há de fugir? e quem há que, sendo tal como eu, entrará no templo e viverá? Não entrarei. 
Discerni, e eis que Deus não o tinha enviado; mas pronunciou esta profecia contra mim. Tobias e Sambalá o tinham peitado. 
Para isso ele foi peitado, para que eu tivesse medo, e assim o fizesse, e pecasse, e para que tivessem de que me infamar, e me vituperassem. 
Lembra-te, Deus meu, de Tobias e de Sambalá segundo estas suas obras, como também da profetiza Noadia, e dos mais profetas que procuravam atemorizar-me. 
Acabou-se o muro no dia vinte e cinco do mês de elal, em cinqüenta e dois dias. 
O que tendo ouvido todos os nossos inimigos, tiveram medo todos os pagãos, nossos circunvizinhos, e ficaram muito humilhados em seus próprios olhos; pois perceberam que esta obra tinha sido feita por nosso Deus. 
Além disso, naqueles dias enviavam os nobres de Judá muitas cartas a Tobias, e cartas de Tobias vinham para eles. 
Pois havia muitos em Judá seus aliados, porque era genro de Secanias, filho de Ará; e seu filho Joanã tinha casado com a filha de Mesulão, filho de Berequias. 
Também falavam diante de mim das boas ações dele, e lhe referiam a ele as minhas palavras. E Tobias mandava cartas para me atemorizar. Jerusalém 

Now when word was given to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our haters, that I had done the building of the wall and that there were no more broken places in it (though even then I had not put up the doors in the doorways); 
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, Come, let us have a meeting in one of the little towns in the lowland of Ono. But their purpose was to do me evil. 
And I sent men to them saying, I am doing a great work, so that it is not possible for me to come down: is the work to be stopped while I go away from it and come down to you? 
And four times they sent to me in this way, and I sent them the same answer. 
Then Sanballat sent his servant to me a fifth time with an open letter in his hand; 
And in it these words were recorded: It is said among the nations, and Geshem says so, that you and the Jews are hoping to make yourselves free from the king's authority; and that this is why you are building the wall: and they say that it is your purpose to be their king; 
And that you have prophets preaching about you in Jerusalem, and saying, There is a king in Judah: now an account of these things will be sent to the king. So come now, and let us have a discussion. 
Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say are being done, they are only a fiction you have made up yourself. 
For they were hoping to put fear in us, saying, Their hands will become feeble and give up the work so that it may not get done. But now, O God, make my hands strong. 
And I went to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us have a meeting in the house of God, inside the Temple, and let the doors be shut: for they will come to put you to death; truly, in the night they will come to put you to death. 
And I said, Am I the sort of man to go in flight? what man, in my position, would go into the Temple to keep himself safe? I will not go in. 
Then it became clear to me that God had not sent him: he had given this word of a prophet against me himself: and Tobiah and Sanballat had given him money to do so. 
For this reason they had given him money, in order that I might be overcome by fear and do what he said and do wrong, and so they would have reason to say evil about me and put shame on me. 
Keep in mind, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat and what they did, and Noadiah, the woman prophet, and the rest of the prophets whose purpose was to put fear into me. 
So the wall was complete on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 
And when our haters had news of this, all the nations round about us were full of fear and were greatly shamed, for they saw that this work had been done by our God. 
And further, in those days the chiefs of Judah sent a number of letters to Tobiah, and his letters came to them. 
For in Judah there were a number of people who had made an agreement by oath with him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken as his wife the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah. 
And they said much before me of the good he had done, and gave him accounts of my words. And Tobiah sent letters with the purpose of causing me fear. 

Neemias 7