Nehemiah 4:5

5 Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked the builders. ^[a]

Nehemiah 4:5 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 4:5

And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted
out from before thee
Let it not go unpunished, and even let it not be pardoned; which is spoken, not from a private spirit of revenge, but from a public spirit for the glory of God, and his justice; and not as a mere imprecation, but as a prophecy of what would be the case, in like manner as many of David's petitions in the Psalms; and for this there was a good foundation, since God had threatened the Moabites and Ammonites with utter destruction:

for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders;
by despising his people, and mocking at the work the Lord had called them to; and this they did publicly, and on purpose to discourage the workmen.

Nehemiah 4:5 In-Context

3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!”

4 Hear us, O God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn back upon their own heads, and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity.

5 Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked the builders.

6 So we rebuilt the wall until all of it was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

7 When Sanballat and Tobiah, together with the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites, heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they were furious,

Footnotes

• [a]. Or have provoked You to anger before the builders