So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our foreign enemies?
Parallel translations
- WEB Also I said, “The thing that you do is not good. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?
- KJV Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?
- NKJV Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?
- NASB So I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the taunting of the nations, our enemies?
- NLT Then I pressed further, “What you are doing is not right! Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations?
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 rebukes their conduct as wrong, urging them to walk in the fear of God and not bring reproach from watching nations. God's honor is at stake.
Overview
Nehemiah grounds his rebuke in two motives: reverence for God and concern for His name among the surrounding nations. Sin within the covenant community dishonors the Lord before a watching world. This concern for God's reputation through His people's conduct anticipates the New Testament call to let our light shine so others glorify the Father (Matthew 5:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Lev 25:36Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.
- Prov 18:5Showing partiality to the wicked is not good, nor is depriving the innocent of justice.
- 1 Pet 2:12Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
- 2 Sam 12:14Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die.”
- Rom 2:24As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
- Titus 2:5to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.
- Prov 19:2Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.
- Prov 16:29A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him down a path that is not good.
- Gen 13:7–8And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.
- Gen 42:18and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live:
- Gen 20:11Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’
- Neh 4:4Hear 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.
- 1 Tim 5:14So I advise the younger widows to marry, have children, and manage their households, denying the adversary occasion for slander.
- Prov 17:26It is surely not good to punish the innocent or to flog a noble for his honesty.
- 1 Sam 2:24No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people.
- Acts 9:31Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
- Prov 24:23These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- Neh 5:15The governors before me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them bread and wine plus forty shekels of silver. Their servants also oppressed the people, but I did not do this because of my fear of God.
- Ezek 36:20And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave His land.’
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 5:9 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.