Nehemiah 4:5

5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of^[a] the builders.

Nehemiah 4:5 in Other Translations

5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

5 Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders.”

5 don't forgive their iniquity, don't wipe away their sin - they've insulted the builders!"

5 Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from Your sight, because they have provoked the builders.

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 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”

4 Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.

5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.

6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.

7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 2:9; Lamentations 1:22
• 2. 2 Kings 14:27; Psalms 51:1; Psalms 69:27-28; Psalms 109:14; Jeremiah 18:23

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "have aroused your anger before"