2. So Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, Nehemiah, let’s meet together. We can meet in the town of Kephirim on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to hurt me.
3. So I sent messengers to them with this answer: “I am doing important work, so I cannot come down. I don’t want the work to stop just so I can come down and meet with you.”
4. Sanballat and Geshem sent the same message to me four times, and I sent the same answer back to them each time.
5. Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his helper to me with the same message. And he had a letter in his hand that was not sealed.