What Does Nehemiah 6:13 Mean in the King James?
Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The trap is paid to turn fear into your act, then turn that act into a bad name others can use against you.
THE MEANING
The verse shows a fear trap at work now: pressure draws you toward the very act someone wants you to commit. The “evil report” is literally a “bad name” (שֵׁם רָע, shem ra), giving others an act to cast as your nature and use to shame you. Fear is the lever; your action is meant to become the accusation that outlasts the moment of fear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that intimidation ends when the frightening moment passes: the intended harm is the public label the coerced act can supply.
THE ROOT
שָׂכוּר
sākûr
GROWS FROM
שכר
sakar
To hire or engage for wages.
“hired” in this verse is sākûr. The verse does not present fear as an accidental atmosphere: it is the intended product of paid counsel. The wage-root makes the scheme an exchange, with someone commissioned to create the fear that could produce a compromising act.
ALSO GROWS
sākār: Wages or recompense.
שָׂכָר
The same word family makes the payment behind the influence visible: this fear is commissioned, not incidental.
sākîr: A hired worker or wage earner.
שָׂכִיר
This branch names someone engaged for payment, matching the verse’s picture of fear deliberately manufactured.
וְחָטָאתִי
veḥāṭā’tî
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥāṭāʾ
To miss, go wrong, or sin.
The root carries the sense of missing or going wrong beneath the word “sin.” The trap depends on inducing a real misstep, then turning that deed into a damaging name.
ALSO GROWS
ḥaṭṭā’t: Sin; also an offering for sin.
חַטָּאת
The word family holds wrongdoing and the offering associated with it together, showing that the deed is more than the public shame attached to it.
ḥōṭē’: One who sins.
חוֹטֵא
This branch names a person by the act, echoing the verse’s danger that a deed becomes a label others attach to someone.
THE PATTERN
Fear becomes a snare when pressure redirects conduct into a wrong act that can be exposed and used against someone.
The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.THE THREAD
And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.Both verses use ירא (yare, fear): Nehemiah has אִירָא (ʾîrāʾ, “I may fear”), while Samuel has יָרֵאתִי (yārē’tî, “I feared”). In both, fear of other people presses toward an act that becomes grounds for blame or reproach.
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