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Nehemiah 6:19

in Nehemiah 6

Moreover, these nobles kept reporting to me Tobiah’s good deeds, and they relayed my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Also they spake of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

KJV

Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

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This verse in Nehemiah 6

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

"Thou knowest their hearts, and art the avenger of falsehood and wrong; take cognizance of this cause; judge between me and them, and take what way and time thou mayest please to call them to an account for it." Note, Whatever injuries are done us we must not avenge ourselves, but commit our cause to him that judgeth righteously.

This site's exposition

sent many letters unto Tobiah

on Nehemiah 6:17-19

The wall stands finished, but the chapter will not let the story end there: in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them, a correspondence running the whole time the wall was rising. Tobiah had married into Judah's own leadership, son in law to Shechaniah and father in law to a son married to Meshullam's daughter, so the enemy held a family claim inside Jerusalem as well as a political one. Those same nobles kept reporting Tobiah's good deeds to Nehemiah and repeating Nehemiah's own words back to him, and Tobiah answered by sending letters meant to put him in fear even after the building was done. Clarke reads the passage as proof that Nehemiah's harder fight was never the siege outside the wall but the compromised friendships inside it, and Gill notes the same pattern of intermarriage Ezra had to unwind returning here among the very nobility that should have guarded against it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; 6 Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

Also they reported his good deeds before me,.... Recommended him as a very worthy man, deserving of respect and notice by Nehemiah, and to be taken into his friendship, and admitted to conversation with him, whose counsel and advice might be of service: and uttered my words to him; reported both what he said and did; for the word used signifies both words and actions: and Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear; perceiving, by the intelligence of his friends, that Nehemiah would have nothing to say to him, nor to do with him, he threatened him.

The words behind it

13 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.

  • גַּ֣םalso

    gamH1571 →769 times

  • טוֹבֹתָ֗יוgood deeds his

    tootavH2896 →538 times

  • הָי֤וּthey were

    hayuH1961 →3559 times

  • אֹמְרִים֙telling

    ʾomerimH559 →5305 times

  • לְפָנַ֔י<to> before me

    lefanaiH6440 →2123 times

  • וּדְבָרַ֕יand words my

    udevaraiH1697 →1440 times

  • הָי֥וּthey were

    hayuH1961 →3559 times

  • מוֹצִיאִ֖יםsending out

    motziimH3318 →1067 times

  • ל֑וֹto him

    lo

  • אִגְּר֛וֹתletters

    ʾigerotH107 →10 times

  • שָׁלַ֥חhe sent

    shalachH7971 →845 times

  • טוֹבִיָּ֖הTobiah

    toiyahH2900 →18 times

  • לְיָֽרְאֵֽנִי׃to make afraid me

    leyareeniH3372 →315 times

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

Related verses

9 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

1 John 4:5They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them.2 worksJohn 7:7The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.2 worksNehemiah 6:9For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will never be finished.” But now, my God, strengthen my hands.2 worksActs 4:18–21Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.2 worksProverbs 28:4Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.2 worksIsaiah 37:10–14“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.2 works
The other 3 cross-references, with their words ▾
Nehemiah 6:13He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would sin by doing as he suggested, so they could give me a bad name in order to discredit me.2 worksJohn 15:19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.2 worksJeremiah 29:25this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “In your own name you have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. You said to Zephaniah:2 works

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

    John 7:7

    The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.

    it leads to

    • John 15:18–19

      If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.

    • John 3:19

      And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.

    • Galatians 4:16

      Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

  • Through

    Proverbs 28:4

    Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.

    it leads to

    • Romans 1:32

      Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

    • Ephesians 5:11

      Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

    • Matthew 14:4

      because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

  • Through

    1 John 4:5

    They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them.

    it leads to

    • John 8:23

      Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

    • 2 Peter 2:2–3

      Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies2

On this verse

On this chapter

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.
Nehemiah: the study guide →Read Nehemiah 6 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Nehemiah 6 →