Nehemiah 6 — Threats, false prophecy and completion of the wall — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: H 6:1, H 6:3, H 6:9, H 6:11, H 6:13
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Nehemiah 6 — Threats, false prophecy and completion of the wall
H 6:1–4 — The invitations to Ono
Verse H 6:1 Disparate
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:1
When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and no breach remained in it—though at that time I had not yet set the doors in the gates—
Greek–English (G)
G 16:1
When Sanaballat, Tobia, Gesam the Arabi and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall, no breath was left in them. Up to that time I had not set doors in the gates.
Comparison and reception
Disparate. Text: H says no breach remained in the wall; G says no breath remained in them, referring naturally to the opponents. The common letter-shape history is not reconstructed as a manuscript fact. Both preserve the unfinished gate doors.
Verse H 6:2 Same
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:2
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to do me harm.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:2
Sanaballat and Gesam sent to me, saying, “Come, let us gather together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” They were planning to do me harm.
Comparison and reception
Same. Text: The invitation, meeting area and narrator's judgment of hostile intent agree. H's villages phrase can also be construed as a place-name; no exact meeting site is asserted.
Verse H 6:3 Disparate
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:3
I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
Greek–English (G)
G 16:3
I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and will not be able to come down, lest the work stop. When I finish it, I will come down to you.”
Comparison and reception
Disparate. Text: H refuses through a rhetorical question about interrupting the work. G adds an express promise to come after finishing it. That promise is not removed to harmonize G with H.
Verse H 6:4 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:4
They sent me this same message four times, and I gave them this same answer.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:4
They sent me this same message, and I sent them an answer accordingly.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: G omits H's four times; neither a frequency nor a new sequence is supplied to G.
H 6:5–9 — The open letter and the reply
Verse H 6:5 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:5
Sanballat sent his young servant to me with the same message a fifth time, carrying an open letter in his hand.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:5
Sanaballat sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: G omits the fifth occasion and the repeated-message wording. Both explicitly describe the letter as open.
Verse H 6:6 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:6
In it was written: “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. That is why you are building the wall, and you intend to become their king, according to these reports.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:6
In it was written: “It has been reported among the nations that you and the Jews are planning to revolt. That is why you are building the wall, and you are becoming their king.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H names Gashmu as a corroborating speaker and closes with according to these words or reports; G omits both. H's Gashmu form is retained without replacing it by Geshem, although the contextual correspondence is evident.
Verse H 6:7 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:7
You have also appointed prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, ‘A king in Judah!’ Now these reports will reach the king. Come now, let us take counsel together.”
Greek–English (G)
G 16:7
Besides this, you have appointed prophets for yourself so that you may sit in Jerusalem as king in Judah. Now these words will be reported to the king. Come now, let us take counsel together.”
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H describes prophetic proclamation; G describes the purpose of seating the addressee as king. Both present these claims inside the opponents' letter, not as established facts about Nehemiah.
Verse H 6:8 Same
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:8
I sent to him, saying, “Nothing like these things you say has happened. You are inventing them from your own heart.”
Greek–English (G)
G 16:8
I sent to him, saying, “Nothing like these words you say has happened. You are falsely devising them from your own heart.”
Comparison and reception
Same. Text: Both preserve the narrator's denial and attribution of the allegations to the sender's invention.
Verse H 6:9 Disparate
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:9
For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, strengthen my hands!
Greek–English (G)
G 16:9
For they are all frightening us, saying, “Their hands will grow slack from this work, and it will not be done.” Now I strengthened my hands.
Comparison and reception
Disparate. Text: H ends with an imperative, naturally a brief prayer for strengthening though God is not explicitly named in this clause. G ends with a first-person past statement. Neither column supplies the other's grammatical person or speech act.
H 6:10–14 — The sanctuary proposal and hired prophecy
Verse H 6:10 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:10
I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah son of Mehetabel, who was confined. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and shut the temple doors, for they are coming to kill you. At night they are coming to kill you.”
Greek–English (G)
G 16:10
I entered the house of Semei son of Dalaia son of Meetabel, who was confined. He said, “Let us gather in the house of God, inside it, and shut its doors, for they are coming at night to murder you.”
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H names the temple explicitly and repeats the killing warning; G uses its house antecedent and states the nighttime warning once. Neither verse explains why the man was confined.
Verse H 6:11 Disparate
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:11
I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who like me could enter the temple and live? I will not enter.”
Greek–English (G)
G 16:11
I said, “Who is the man who could enter the house and live?”
Comparison and reception
Disparate. Text: G omits the flight question, like me, and the explicit refusal. Its shorter question is retained. Rabbinic: The commentary presented as Rashi explains H's refusal through the prohibition on a non-priest entering the sanctuary [R6, 6:11]. That interpretation is not inserted as an unspoken legal clause into either translation.
Verse H 6:12 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:12
I discerned that God had not sent him, but that he had spoken the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:12
I recognized that God had not sent him, because the prophecy was a word against me, and Tobias and Sanaballat had hired
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H gives him as the hired object in this verse. G leaves the hiring verb's object for source 16:13. G's prophecy was a word also differs from H's he spoke the prophecy; the clause boundary is preserved.
Verse H 6:13 Disparate
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:13
He was hired for this purpose: that I should be afraid, act in that way and sin, so that they might have a bad name to use against me and reproach me.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:13
a crowd against me, so that I might be afraid, act in that way and sin, and become a bad name for them to reproach me.
Comparison and reception
Disparate. Text: G explicitly makes a crowd the object of hired in 16:12; H continues speaking of the individual who was hired. Both give fear, wrongful action and public disgrace as the purpose. The crowd remains in its actual source-numbered verse.
Verse H 6:14 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:14
Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these deeds of his, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were frightening me.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:14
Remember, God, Tobia and Sanaballat according to these deeds of his, and Noadia the prophet and the rest of the prophets who were frightening me.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H calls Noadiah a prophetess; G uses masculine prophet. Both have a singular his after the two named opponents, retained without silently changing it to their. H's my God is God in G.
H 6:15–19 — The completed wall and continuing correspondence
Verse H 6:15 Same
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:15
The wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:15
The wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Eloul, in fifty-two days.
Comparison and reception
Same. Text: The completion date and construction duration agree. These ancient calendar details are retained as textual dates, without inventing a modern calendar conversion.
Verse H 6:16 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:16
When all our enemies heard, all the nations around us became afraid and fell very low in their own eyes. They knew that this work had been done by our God.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:16
When all our enemies heard, all the nations around us became afraid. Great fear fell upon them before their eyes, and they knew that it was by our God that this work had been brought to completion.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H describes the opponents falling low in their own estimation; G makes fear the falling subject. H's defective spelling wayyire'u is read here as fear, though seeing is a lexical alternative; G explicitly has became afraid. Both attribute the accomplishment to our God.
Verse H 6:17 Similar
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:17
In those days the nobles of Judah also sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:17
In those days letters from many honored men of Judah went to Tobia, and Tobia's letters came to them,
Comparison and reception
Similar. Text: H emphasizes the multiplication of letters; G emphasizes the many honored correspondents. Both preserve communication in both directions.
Verse H 6:18 Similar
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:18
For many in Judah were bound to him by oath, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah as wife.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:18
because many in Judah were bound to him by oath, since he was the son-in-law of Sechenia son of Erae, and his son Ioanan had taken the daughter of Mesoulam son of Barachia as wife.
Comparison and reception
Similar. Text: Both explain the network through oath commitments and the two marriages. The source-specific ancestral name forms remain visible.
Verse H 6:19 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 6:19
They also spoke of his good deeds before me and carried my words out to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.
Greek–English (G)
G 16:19
They also told me his words and carried my words out to him, and Tobias sent letters to frighten me.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H reports praise of Tobiah's good deeds; G reports his words. Both retain the reporting of the narrator's words and the intimidating letters.