Nehemiah 6:3 (YLT)

Passage

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?'

Nearby Context

Nehemiah 6:1 And it cometh to pass, when it hath been heard by Sanballat, and Tobiah, and by Geshem the Arabian, and by the rest of our enemies, that I have builded the wall, and there hath not been left in it a breach, (also, till that time the doors I had not set up in the gates,)

Nehemiah 6:2 that Sanballat sendeth, also Geshem, unto me, saying, `Come and we meet together in the villages, in the valley of Ono;' and they are thinking to do to me evil.

Nehemiah 6:3 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?'

Nehemiah 6:4 and they send unto me, according to this word, four times, and I return them <FI>word<Fi> according to this word.

Nehemiah 6:5 And Sanballat sendeth unto me, according to this word, a fifth time, his servant, and an open letter in his hand;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "send", "messengers", "saying", "great", "doing", "able", "come", and "down". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "send" and "messengers", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "that Sanballat sendeth also Geshem unto me..." into verse 4's "and they send unto me according to...", so "send" and "messengers" belong inside that flow. In Nehemiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "send" and "messengers" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.