Person Old Testament
Shemaiah
Shemaiah, a false prophet who tried to intimidate Nehemiah during the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Nehemiah 6:10.
Why it matters. False prophet who opposed Nehemiah
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Shemaiah
Shemaiah was a false prophet who opposed Nehemiah during the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall. In Neh.6.10, Nehemiah describes an encounter with Shemaiah, who was shut up in his house. Shemaiah claimed to have received a prophecy that Nehemiah should hide in the temple to avoid being killed by his enemies. However, Nehemiah recognized this as a false prophecy intended to intimidate him and discredit his leadership. Nehemiah refused to flee, stating that a man in his position should not enter the temple to save his life. This incident highlights the challenges and opposition Nehemiah faced while trying to restore Jerusalem and the Jewish community.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Parents
- Delaiah
Appears in Scripture
Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.
Nehemiah (1 verse)