Nehemiah 4:5

Nehemiah 4:5 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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.
• New International Version (NIV)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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)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.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.

Context of Nehemiah 4:5

3Tobiah the Ammonite was with him. Tobiah said, ‘The wall that the Jews are trying to build is very weak. Even if a little fox climbs up on it, the stones would all fall down again!’ 4So I prayed, ‘Hear us, our God. Our enemies think that we are fools. Make them seem like fools themselves! Let their enemies take them away as slaves. Do not forgive their sins. Do not say that they are not guilty. They have insulted us when we are trying to build.’ 6The people worked hard because they wanted to build the wall. As a result, the wall all round the city soon became half as high as the old wall. 7Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arab people, the Ammonites and the people who came from Ashdod all heard that the work was continuing. They could see that we were repairing the holes in the wall. So they were very angry.

Nehemiah 4:5 word by word

וְאַל־תְּכַס֙ עַל־עֲוֹנָ֔ם וְחַטָּאתָ֖ם מִלְּפָנֶ֣יךָ אַל־תִּמָּחֶ֑ה כִּ֥י הִכְעִ֖יסוּ לְנֶ֥גֶד הַבּוֹנִֽים׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And coverכָּסָהkâsâh · to coverH3680
• not their iniquityעָוֺן‛âvôn ‛âvôn · iniquity: guiltH5771
• and let not their sinחַטָּאתchaţţâ'âh chaţţâ'th · sinH2403
• be blotted outמָחָהmâchâh · to wipeH4229
• from beforeפָּנֶהpânîym · face: beforeH6440
• to angerכָּעַסka‛as · to provokeH3707
• before the buildersבָּנָהbânâh · to buildH1129

Cross-references for Nehemiah 4:5

• Psalms 59:5For you are the Lord God Almighty, the God that Israel serves. Get up and punish all the foreign nations. Do not forgive any wicked people who have turned against us. Selah.
• Psalms 69:27Make a note of all their sins. Do not ever forgive them, so that they are righteous.
• Psalms 109:14Lord, please remember his ancestors sins. Please do not forgive his mother's sins.
• Jeremiah 18:23But Lord, you know how they want to kill me. They are guilty, so do not forgive them. Do not forget to punish them for their sins. Put them under your power! Punish them while you are still angry!’
• 2 Timothy 4:14Alexander, the man who makes things from metal, caused a lot of trouble for me. The Lord will punish him because of the wrong things that he did.
• Psalms 51:1Please forgive me, God, because of your faithful love. Because you are so kind, please clean away my sins.
• Isaiah 43:25But I am the one who removes your sins when you do not obey me. I, the Lord, do that, because of who I am. I do not hold your sins in my mind.
• Isaiah 44:22I have removed the guilt of your sins, like the wind blows away a cloud. When you turned against me, I have quickly forgiven you. Return to me now, because I have rescued you.’
• Isaiah 36:11Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the leader of the Assyrian army, ‘Please sir, speak to us in the Aramaic language. We can understand it. Do not speak to us in the Hebrew language, because all the people who are on the wall of the city will understand it.’

Commentaries on Nehemiah 4:5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Let not their sin be blotted out - These are the most terrible imprecations; but probably we should understand them as declaratory, for the same form of the verb, in the Hebrew, is used as precative and imperative. Turn their reproach - Their reproach shall be turned. Give them for a prey - They shall be given for a prey. Cover not their iniquity - Their iniquity shall not be covered. Let not their sin be blotted out - Their sin shall not be blotted out…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5Do not...let their sin be blotted out from Your sight: See also “Prayers for Vengeance” Theme Note.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 4-54-5. Hear, O our God; for we are despised--The imprecations invoked here may seem harsh, cruel, and vindictive; but it must be remembered that Nehemiah and his friends regarded those Samaritan leaders as enemies to the cause of God and His people, and therefore as deserving to be visited with heavy judgments. The prayer, therefore, is to be considered as emanating from hearts in which neither hatred, revenge, nor any inferior passion, but a pious and…Read the comment

Topics related to Nehemiah 4:5

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Prayer
• Zeal, Religious

In the dictionaries

• Armour
• Sanballat
• Ammon; Ammonites
• Blot
• Esdras, the First Book of

Commentaries on Nehemiah 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings