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.
When Abner arrived at Hebron, Joab took him to one side in the middle of the gateway to talk with him in private. And then Joab stabbed Abner in the stomach, and Abner died. Abner had killed Joab’s brother Asahel. So now Joab killed Abner.
So I sent messengers to them with this answer: “I am doing important work, so I can’t come down. I don’t want the work to stop just so I can come down and meet with you.”
Then I thought, “Why do people work so hard?” I saw people try to succeed and be better than other people. Why? Because people are jealous. They don’t want other people to have more than they have. This is senseless. It is like trying to catch the wind. {\cf2\super [21]}
While they were eating together, Ishmael and his ten men got up and killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam with a sword. Gedaliah was the man that the king of Babylon had chosen to be governor of Judah.
So they come to you like they are my people. They sit in front of you like they are my people. They hear your words. But they won’t do the things you say. They only want to do what feels good. They only want to cheat people and make more money.