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?
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?
- BSB 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?
- 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 25:36Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God; that your brother may live among you.
- Prov 18:5To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.
- 1 Pet 2:12having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
- 2 Sam 12:14However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.”
- Rom 2:24For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.
- Titus 2:5to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that God’s word may not be blasphemed.
- Prov 19:2It isn’t good to have zeal without knowledge; nor being hasty with one’s feet and missing the way.
- Prov 16:29A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good.
- Gen 13:7–8There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time.
- Gen 42:18Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.
- Gen 20:11Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife’s sake.’
- Neh 4:4“Hear, our God; for we are despised; and turn back their reproach on their own head, give them up for a plunder in a land of captivity;
- 1 Tim 5:14I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting.
- Prov 17:26Also to punish the righteous is not good, nor to flog officials for their integrity.
- 1 Sam 2:24No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear! You make Yahweh’s people disobey.
- Acts 9:31So the assemblies throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
- Prov 24:23These also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- Neh 5:15But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.
- Ezek 36:20When they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and are gone out of his land.
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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
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