8 I sent a message back to Sanballat, saying, “None of this is true! You are making it all up.”
9 Our enemies were trying to frighten us and to keep us from our work. But I asked God to give me strength.
10 One day I went to visit Shemaiah. He wasn't supposed to leave his house, but he said, “Let's hurry to the holy place of the temple and hide there. We will lock the temple doors, because your enemies are planning to kill you tonight.”
11 I answered, “Why should someone like me have to run and hide in the temple to save my life? I won't go!”
12 Suddenly I realized that God had not given Shemaiah this message. But Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to trick me
13 and to frighten me into doing something wrong, because they wanted to ruin my good name.
14 Then I asked God to punish Tobiah and Sanballat for what they had done. I prayed that God would punish the prophet Noadiah and the other prophets who, together with her, had tried to frighten me.