Bible Strands
Nehemiah 6:13
He 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah records the immediate political pressure he faced while overseeing Jerusalem’s wall reconstruction, noting how his opponents deployed a paid agent to trigger his compliance through fear. The words — The text highlights שָׂכֻר (sa.Khur), literally “was hired,” and אִירָא ('i.Ra'), literally “I may be afraid,” showing the mechanism of the threat. The grammatical subject of the hiring is the male figure from the preceding narrative, not the prophetess listed later. The thread — This pattern of coordinated intimidation and slander appears in Jeremiah 20:10, where whispered terror surrounds a prophet, and in Proverbs 29:5, which warns that flattery lays a snare. Nehemiah 6:6 also documents the same opponents spreading false reports to provoke panic. Why it lands — The text states the opponents' goal was to force a fearful departure from divine instruction to ruin his reputation. A reader must recognize that external pressure to compromise obedience is a calculated strategy, not a spontaneous crisis.
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
Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 20:10 For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.”
- Nehemiah 6:6 that read: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem agrees—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and this is why you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king,
- Proverbs 29:5 A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
- 2 Corinthians 11:12 But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.
- 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
- James 4:17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.
- Isaiah 57:11 Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and failed to remember Me or take this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?
- Jeremiah 18:18 Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”
- Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
- Matthew 22:15 Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words.