Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked the builders.
Parallel translations
- WEB don’t cover their iniquity, and don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”
- 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.
- 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.
- NASB Do not forgive their guilt and do not let their sin be wiped out before You, for they have demoralized the builders.
- NLT Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Nehemiah prays that God would not overlook the enemies' guilt, since they have insulted the builders—and thus God Himself. He sees the opposition as an affront to the Lord.
Overview
Continuing his prayer, Nehemiah asks that the adversaries' sin not be blotted out, recognizing that to mock God's work is to provoke God directly. Such imprecatory petitions, found also in the Psalms, are pleas for divine justice against persistent, hardened enemies of God's purposes. Faithful readers note that these prayers leave vengeance to God, while the New Testament also calls believers to love and pray for their enemies, trusting the Lord as the righteous Judge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 109:14May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
- Jer 18:23But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.
- Ps 69:27–28Add iniquity to their iniquity; let them not share in Your righteousness.
- 2 Tim 4:14Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
- Isa 44:22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Isa 43:25I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- Ps 51:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.
- Ps 59:5–13O LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, rouse Yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah
- Ps 51:9Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
- Isa 36:11–12Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 4:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.