Nehemia 6

1 Sanbalat, Tobia, Gesyem dan musuh-musuh kami yang lain mendengar bahwa kami selesai memperbaiki tembok, dan bahwa semua lubangnya sudah ditutup, meskipun pada waktu itu kami belum memasang daun-daun pintu pada pintu-pintu gerbang kota.

Now it happened that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem, an Arab, and our other enemies, had heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no interruption remaining in it, (even though, at that time, I had not set up the double doors at the gates, )

2 Maka Sanbalat dan Gesyem mengirim undangan kepadaku supaya datang mengadakan pertemuan dengan mereka di salah satu desa di Lembah Ono. Tetapi aku tahu bahwa mereka mau mencelakakan aku.

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying: “Come, and let us strike a pact together in the villages, on the plain of Ono.” But they were thinking that they would do me harm.

3 Sebab itu kukirim jawaban ini kepada mereka, "Aku tak bisa datang karena sedang melakukan pekerjaan penting. Pekerjaan itu akan macet kalau kutinggalkan untuk bertemu dengan kalian."

Therefore, I sent messengers to them, saying: “I am doing a great work, and I cannot descend, lest perhaps it may be neglected when I go out and descend to you.”

4 Sampai empat kali mereka mengirim undangan yang sama kepadaku, dan setiap kali pula kuberikan jawaban yang sama.

Then they sent to me, with this same word, four times. And I responded to them with the same word as before.

5 Pada kali yang kelima seorang anak buah Sanbalat datang dan memberikan surat terbuka

And Sanballat sent his servant to me a fifth time, with the former word, and he had a letter in his hand written in this manner:

6 yang isinya demikian: "Gesyem membenarkan adanya desas-desus di kalangan bangsa-bangsa di sekitar sini, yang mengatakan bahwa Saudara dan semua orang Yahudi merencanakan pemberontakan, dan itu sebabnya Saudara memperbaiki tembok kota. Ia mengatakan juga bahwa Saudara hendak mengangkat diri menjadi raja Yehuda,

“It has been heard among the Gentiles, and Geshem has said it, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and because of this, you are building the wall and thinking to raise yourself as a king over them. For this reason,

7 dan telah menunjuk beberapa nabi untuk menobatkan Saudara di Yerusalem. Desas-desus itu pasti akan sampai kepada raja. Sebab itu, datanglah untuk merundingkan hal itu."

you also have stationed prophets, who preach about you in Jerusalem, saying: ‘There is a king in Judea!’ But the king will hear about these words. Therefore, come now, so that we may go to counsel together.”

8 Tetapi aku mengirimkan jawaban ini, "Semua yang Saudara katakan itu omong kosong dan isapan jempol Saudara sendiri."

And I sent to them, saying: “There has been nothing done according to these words, which you have spoken. For you are inventing these things from your own heart.”

9 Mereka mencoba menakut-nakuti kami supaya kami menghentikan pekerjaan itu. Aku berdoa, "Ya Allah, kuatkanlah aku!"

For all these men wished to frighten us, thinking that our hands would cease from the work, and that we would cease. For this reason, I strengthened my hands all the more.

10 Sekitar waktu itu juga, aku pergi ke rumah Semaya anak Delaya dan cucu Mehetabeel, karena ia berhalangan datang kepadaku. Katanya kepadaku, "Mari kita berdua pergi bersembunyi di Rumah Tuhan. Kita kunci semua pintunya, sebab ada orang yang mau membunuh engkau. Barangkali malam ini engkau akan dibunuh."

And I entered into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, in secret. And he said: “Let us consult together in the house of God, in the midst of the temple. And let us close the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill you, and they will arrive in the night to put you to death.”

11 Tetapi aku menjawab, "Aku ini bukan orang yang suka melarikan diri. Sebagai orang awam aku tak boleh memasuki Rumah Tuhan, nanti aku mati. Tidak, aku tidak mau!"

And I said: “How could anyone like me flee? And who like me should enter the temple, so that he may live? I will not enter.”

12 Setelah kutimbang-timbang hal itu, sadarlah aku bahwa ajakan Semaya itu bukan dari Allah, melainkan dari Tobia dan Sanbalat. Mereka telah menyuap Semaya untuk menyampaikan nubuat itu kepadaku.

And I understood that God had not sent him, but he had spoken to me as if he were prophesying, and that Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 Maksud mereka ialah supaya aku takut dan menuruti saran mereka sehingga berbuat dosa. Dengan demikian mereka mendapat kesempatan menjelekkan namaku sehingga aku menjadi buah bibir orang.

For he had accepted money, so that I would be afraid, and would sin, and so that they would have some evil with which to rebuke me.

14 Aku berdoa, "Ya Allah, ingatlah apa yang dilakukan oleh Tobia dan Sanbalat itu. Hukumlah mereka! Begitu juga nabiah yang bernama Noaja dan nabi-nabi lain yang mau menakut-nakuti aku."

Remember me, O Lord, because of Tobiah and Sanballat, because of their works of this kind. Then, too, Noadiah, a prophetess, and the rest of the prophets, would have made me afraid.

15 Perbaikan tembok itu makan waktu 52 hari, dan selesai pada tanggal dua puluh lima bulan Elul.

Now the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty-two days.

16 Ketika musuh-musuh kami di antara bangsa-bangsa di sekitar situ mendengar hal itu, mereka takut kehilangan muka, sebab semua orang tahu bahwa pekerjaan itu dilakukan dengan pertolongan Allah.

Then it happened that, when all our enemies had heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they were downcast within themselves. For they knew that this work had been accomplished by God.

17 Sementara itu para pemimpin Yahudi masih juga mengadakan surat-menyurat dengan Tobia.

But also, in those days, many letters were being sent by the nobles of the Jews to Tobiah, and were arriving from Tobiah to them.

18 Banyak orang Yahudi berteman dengan Tobia, karena ia menantu Sekhanya anak Arah. Lagipula Yohanan, anak Tobia, kawin dengan anak perempuan Mesulam anak Berekhya.

For there were many in Judea who had sworn an oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah, and because Jehohanan, his son, had married the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.

19 Meskipun Tobia terus-menerus menulis surat kepadaku untuk menakut-nakuti aku, namun para pemimpin Yahudi itu menyebut-nyebut di depanku segala kebaikan Tobia. Selain itu semua yang kukatakan, mereka laporkan kepadanya.

Moreover, they praised him before me, and they reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters, so that he might make me afraid.