and no breach was left therein in the wall of the city.

I had not erected that doors were not made in the gates of the city.

in Kefirim This is a name of a place.

[which is] in the Valley of Ono That is the name of the valley.

and they were plotting against me. I understood from them that they were plotting against me to assassinate me there.

“I am doing great work of the buildings (of the city); other editions read: [of the buildings] of dust.

Why should...stop Why should the work be curtailed?

when I leave it Heb. אַרְפֶּהָ, lit. [slacken] my hand from the building.

and come down to you to speak with and to meet with you.

with his servant through his servant.

and an open letter was in his hand He sent me a written letter through him.

It was written in it in that letter.

It is heard among the nations that it is known to all the nations that you and all the Jews are plotting to rebel.

and Gashmu says Gashmu is Geshem the Arab, and its interpretation is like a man who says to his friend, “This is the matter, and so-and-so says.”

according to these words This refers back to the text, and it is a transposed verse. It is as though it was written, “According to these words was heard among the nations, etc.”

...also...speakers Until “...and take counsel together” was written in the letter.

speakers Heb. נְבִיאִים, speakers, like (Isa. 57:19): “I created the speech (נִיב) of the lips.”

saying who say that there is a king in Judea.

and now it will be reported to the king After you have been called king, it will be reported to the king according to these words.

from your heart Heb. כִּי. This כִּי is in place of אֶלָּא, but.

invent them contro(u)ves eles in Old French; you are concocting them, like (I Kings 12:33): “...that he had fabricated (בָּדָה) from his heart.”

For they all for all the nations.

fear us Heb. מְיָרְאִים. They fear us, and so they say, “Let their hands be slackened, etc.”

and now, strengthen my hands to help me with the building of the wall.

and he was confined for he found him at home.

and he said, “Let us meet Shemaiah was a false prophet who had received a bribe from Sanballat and his colleagues to frighten Nehemiah in order to stop the work.

for they are coming to assassinate you for Sanballat and his colleagues will come to assassinate you.

and tonight they are coming Therefore, he warned him to enter the Temple and to close the doors about himself, because the doors of the gates of the city had not been made, as it says at the beginning of the chapter (verse 1): “Also that until that time, I had not erected doors in the gates.”

Will a man like me flee This is a question: Will a man like me flee to enter the Temple?

I will not enter I will not enter there because of fear of death, and I will not transgress the commandments of the Holy One, blessed be He, that a stranger (a non-Kohen) may not enter His Temple.

And I discerned I discerned in his words that the Holy One, blessed be He, had not sent him on this mission, but that he wanted me to commit a transgression because of fear of death.

for he spoke prophesy concerning me for he spoke these words concerning me in the name of prophecy.

had hired him Heb. שְּׂכָרוֹ. Each one of them had hired him and given him pay to frighten me and to curtail the building of the wall.

Because he was hired he told me these things.

in order that I fear in order that I fear them, to do this to enter the Temple and sin.

so that they should have this for a scandal in order that they should have this as a scandal to reproach me with this sin.

and also Noadiah the prophetess She and the rest of the false prophets received pay from Sanballat and his cohorts in order to frighten me with their false prophecies.

on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Ellul, in the twentieth year of King Darius, for in the twentieth year of Darius, Nehemiah went up from Babylon, and in that year he built the ruins of Jerusalem.

after fifty-two days The construction of the wall was completed fifty-two days after they had started building it.

Now it came to pass when all our enemies heard this matter, that the construction of the wall was completed.

that all the nations became frightened when all the nations saw that the construction of the wall of the city had been completed.

and they fell very low in their own eyes They themselves fell in their own eyes; they despised themselves, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

the rulers of Judea Heb. חֹרֵי, the princes of Judea.

to Tobiah Heb. עַל-טוֹבִיָה. He was a renegade Israelite.

and Tobiah’s i.e., Tobiah’s letters.

For many in Judea Heb. רַבִּים, who were great rulers in Judea, were partners in a covenant and an oath with him.

for he was the son-in-law Tobiah [was the son-in-law] of Shechaniah.

and Jehohanan his son [the son] of Tobiah.

the daughter of Meshullam Meshullam was a great man and a ruler.

also of his good qualities His confederates and his kinsmen would speak of them before me.

his good qualities Heb. טוֹבֹתְָיו ses proezes, in Old French, his gallant exploits.

they divulged to him to tell Tobiah.

Tobiah sent letters He constantly sent letters to frighten me so that we would not build the wall.