Bible Strands
Nehemiah 6:10
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!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who is confined to his house, delivers a warning to Nehemiah after Nehemiah prays for strength against enemies plotting to kill him. The exchange occurs while Shemaiah claims an assassination attempt is imminent and urges Nehemiah to hide in the temple.
The words — The Hebrew בָ֗אתִי (Va.ti) translates literally as "I went," marking Nehemiah’s deliberate movement to the meeting. The term בֵּ֣ית (beit) denotes "[the] house of," underscoring the private, restricted location where the counsel is delivered.
The thread — The theme of restricted temple access appears in Jeremiah 36:5, where a prophet is confined from entering the house of the LORD. The pattern of hostile plotting against the righteous echoes Psalm 37:12, while the warning against deceptive counsel aligns with Matthew 7:15.
Why it lands — The text records a direct command to hide in the temple to avoid assassination, which Nehemiah immediately rejects in the following verse. It requires a reader to test urgent counsel against the specific duties and character of God’s servants, refusing fear-based compromises.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 36:5 Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I am restricted; I cannot enter the house of the LORD;
- Psalms 37:12 The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
- Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
- 1 Kings 6:5 Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.
- 2 Kings 9:8 The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel.
- 2 Kings 11:3 And Joash remained hidden with his nurse in the house of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
- 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 corner in Jerusalem.
- 2 Chronicles 29:3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened and repaired the doors of the house of the LORD.
- 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.
- Ezra 8:16 Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan.