Nehemiah 4:5
◄  Nehemiah 4:5  ►
New International Version (©2011)
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.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders."

English Standard Version (©2001)
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 American Standard Bible (©1995)
Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have demoralized the builders.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from Your sight, because they have provoked the builders.

International Standard Version (©2012)
Don't atone their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you, because they have demoralized the builders."

NET Bible (©2006)
Do not cover their iniquity, and do not wipe out their sin from before them. For they have bitterly offended the builders!

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Don't ignore their guilt, and don't let their sins disappear from your records. They have insulted you in front of these builders."

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before you: for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.

American King James Version
And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before you: for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.

American Standard Version
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.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thy face, because they have mocked thy builders.

Darby Bible Translation
And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee; for they have provoked the builders.

English Revised Version
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.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
don't cover their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders."

Young's Literal Translation
and do not cover over their iniquity, and their sin from before Thee let not be blotted out, for they have provoked to anger -- over-against those building.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-6 Many a good work has been looked upon with contempt by proud and haughty scorners. Those who disagree in almost every thing, will unite in persecution. Nehemiah did not answer these fools according to their folly, but looked up to God by prayer. God's people have often been a despised people, but he hears all the slights that are put upon them, and it is their comfort that he does so. Nehemiah had reason to think that the hearts of those sinners were desperately hardened, else he would not have prayed that their sins might never be blotted out. Good work goes on well, when people have a mind to it. The reproaches of enemies should quicken us to our duty, not drive us from it.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Cover not their iniquity, etc. Some of David's imprecations are very similar (Psalm 109:7, 14, 15, etc.), as also some of Jeremiah's (Jeremiah 18:23). They have provoked thee to anger before the builders. It is not as if they had merely "thought scorn" of thee, or insulted thee before one or two. They have uttered their insult publicly, so that it is known to the whole body of the builders. Therefore they deserve not to be forgiven.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 Parallel Commentaries

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The Work is Ridiculed
…4Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach on their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: 5And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before you: for they have provoked you to anger before the builders. 6So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together to the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work. …

Nehemiah 4:6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
Psalm 69:27 Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation.
Psalm 69:28 May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.
Psalm 109:14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
Isaiah 2:9 So people will be brought low and everyone humbled-- do not forgive them.
Jeremiah 18:23 But you, LORD, know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their crimes or blot out their sins from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
Lamentations 1:22 "Let all their wickedness come before you; deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my sins. My groans are many and my heart is faint."