Font Size
Nehemiah 6:1-3
New English Translation
Nehemiah 6:1-3
New English Translation
Opposition to the Rebuilding Efforts Continues
6 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim[a] in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm.
3 So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am engaged in[b] an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Nehemiah 6:2 tn It is not entirely clear whether the Hebrew word כְּפִירִים (kefirim) is a place-name not mentioned elsewhere in the OT (as indicated in the present translation; so also NAB, NASB) or whether it means “in [one of] the villages” (so, e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT; see BDB 499 s.v.; HALOT 493 s.v.). The LXX and Vulgate understand it in the latter sense. Some scholars connect this term with the identically spelled word כפירים (“lions”) as a figurative description of princes or warriors (e.g., Pss 34:11; 35:17; 58:7; Jer 2:15; Ezek 32:2, 13; Nah 2:14 HT [2:13 ET]; see HALOT 493 s.v. כְּפִיר): “let us meet together with the leaders in the plain of Ono.”
- Nehemiah 6:3 tn Heb “[am] doing.”
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.