Nehemiah 6:3 “So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and can…”

Nehemiah 6:3

So 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 to go down to you?”

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James Version

And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

World English Bible

I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?”

American Standard Version

And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

Geneva Bible 1599

Therefore I sent messengers vnto them, saying, I haue a great worke to doe, and I can not come downe: why should the worke cease, whiles I leaue it, and come downe to you?

Darby Translation

And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?

Young's Literal Translation

And I send unto them messengers, saying, 'A great work I am doing, and I am not able to come down; why doth the work cease when I let it alone, and have come down unto you?'

Bible in Basic English

And I sent men to them saying, I am doing a great work, so that it is not possible for me to come down: is the work to be stopped while I go away from it and come down to you?

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Cross references

“And I sent”

Matthew 10:16 Proverbs 14:15

Matthew 10:16 · BSB

Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Proverbs 14:15 · BSB

The simple man believes every word, but the prudent man watches his steps.

“I am doing”

John 9:4 Luke 14:30 Ecclesiastes 9:10 1 Timothy 4:15 1 Timothy 4:16

John 9:4 · BSB

While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

Luke 14:30 · BSB

saying, ‘This man could not finish what he started to build.’

Ecclesiastes 9:10 · BSB

Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

1 Timothy 4:15 · BSB

Be diligent in these matters and absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

1 Timothy 4:16 · BSB

Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

2Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me.

4Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.

Read Nehemiah 6