Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Nehemiah 6:10

in Nehemiah 6

Later, I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house. He said: “Let us meet at the house of God inside the temple. Let us shut the temple doors because they are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you!”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And I went unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.

KJV

Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.

This verse in Nehemiah 6

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Who was shut up - Lived in a sequestered, solitary state; pretending to sanctity, and to close intercourse with God. Let us meet together in the house of God - The meaning is, “Shut yourself up in the temple; appear to have taken sanctuary there, for in it alone can you find safety.” This he said to discourage and disgrace him, and to ruin the people; for, had Nehemiah taken his advice, the people would have been without a leader, their enemies would have come upon them at once, and they would have been an easy prey.

This site's exposition

who was shut up

on Nehemiah 6:10-12

Nehemiah visits Shemaiah, a man shut up in his own house who claims fear of assassination and urges a plan that sounds like safety: let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors. The advice is a trap, since only a priest could lawfully enter that part of the temple and Nehemiah was not one. His answer is the chapter's sharpest line: should such a man as I flee, and who is there, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life. Then comes the discernment that closes the scene: I perceived that God had not sent him, for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him, a plain man reading a false prophecy by the counsel it served rather than by any sign.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah · Written before 735.

proposed

And I entered the house of Shemaiah, etc. Assaulted by the treacheries of enemies, Nehemiah entered the house of Shemaiah as though of a friend and brother; but he also found him to be a traitor and enemy, since he had been corrupted by the …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Shut up - In his chamber adjoining to the temple, upon pretense of singular devotion, and communion with God, and withal upon pretense of certain knowledge, by the Spirit of God concerning their approaching danger, from which thy could be safe nowhere but in the temple.
Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah, &c.--This man was the son of a priest, who was an intimate and confidential friend of Nehemiah. The young man claimed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy.
Who was shut up - On account, probably, of some legal uncleaness. Compare Jer 36:5.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Will a man like me flee This is a question: Will a man like me flee to enter the Temple?
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Nehemiah 6:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

27 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַאֲנִי־and I

    vaani-H589874 times

  • בָ֗אתִיI went

    vatiH9352568 times

  • בֵּ֣ית[the] house of

    beitH10042046 times

  • שְֽׁמַֽעְיָ֧הShemaiah

    shema'yahH809841 times

  • בֶן־[the] son of

    ven-H11214930 times

  • דְּלָיָ֛הDelaiah

    delayahH1806

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • מְהֵֽיטַבְאֵ֖לMehetabel

    meheitavelH4105

  • וְה֣וּאand he

    vehu'H19311879 times

  • עָצ֑וּר[was] shut up

    ʾatzurH6113

  • וַיֹּ֡אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • נִוָּעֵד֩let us meet

    nivaedH3259

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • בֵּ֨ית[the] house of

    beitH10042046 times

  • הָאֱלֹהִ֜ים<the> God

    haelohimH4302601 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • תּ֣וֹךְ[the] middle of

    tokhH8432418 times

  • הַֽהֵיכָ֗לthe temple

    haheikhalH196480 times

  • וְנִסְגְּרָה֙and let us close

    venisgerahH5462

  • דַּלְת֣וֹת[the] doors of

    daltotH181788 times

  • הַהֵיכָ֔לthe temple

    haheikhalH196480 times

  • כִּ֚יfor

    kiH35884482 times

  • בָּאִ֣ים[people are] coming

    baimH9352568 times

  • לְהָרְגֶ֔ךָto kill you

    leharegekhaH2026167 times

  • וְלַ֖יְלָהand night

    velaylahH3915233 times

  • בָּאִ֥ים[people are] coming

    baimH9352568 times

  • לְהָרְגֶֽךָ׃to kill you

    leharegekhaH2026167 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Matthew 7:15

    Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

    it leads to

    • 1 John 4:1

      Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

    • 2 Peter 2:1–3

      Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on…

    • Matthew 24:11

      and many false prophets will arise and mislead many.

    • Mark 13:22–23

      For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

    • Acts 20:29–31

      I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

  • Through

    Psalms 37:12

    The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,

    it leads to

    • Psalms 35:16

      Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.

    • Micah 2:1

      Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 29:7

    They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the Holy Place of the God of Israel.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 28:24

      Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his own on every street…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Nehemiah

Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.