Nehemiah 4:5

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The parenthetical prayers of Nehemiah form one of the most striking characteristics of his history. Here we have the first. Other examples are Nehemiah 5:19; Nehemiah 6:9, Nehemiah 6:14; Nehemiah 13:14, Nehemiah 13:22, Nehemiah 13:29, Nehemiah 13:31.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4, 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 patriotic zeal for the glory of God and the success of His cause, held the ascendant sway.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Let not their sin be blotted out from before thee; let their wickedness be in thy sight, so as to bring down deserved judgments it. upon them, that either they may be convinced and reformed, or others may be warned by their example. God is said to cover or hide sin when he forbears to punish.

They have provoked thee to anger before the builders, i.e. they have not only provoked us builders, but thee also. Or, they have provoked or derided the builders to their face, i.e. openly and impudently, in contempt of God, and of this work, which is done by his direction and encouragement.

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.

Geneva Study Bible

And cover not their {e} iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

(e) Let the plagues declare to the world that they set themselves against you and your Church: that he prays only having respect for God's glory and not for any private affection, or grudge.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. and cover not their iniquity] i.e. forgive it not. Cf. Psalm 85:2, ‘Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin’—i.e. so as not to see and visit it.

and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee] i.e. let its record remain for ever in the book of divine remembrance and cry for retribution. Compare Psalm 109:14, ‘Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.’ The metaphor is differently applied in Psalm 69:28, ‘Let them be blotted out of the book of life.’

for they have provoked thee to anger] The verb, which is of frequent occurrence in connexion with idolatrous practices, is here used absolutely as in 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Kings 21:22. But there is no ambiguity of meaning, if we supply the pronoun ‘thee’ as the object. The LXX. omit the clause: the Vulg. renders ‘quia irriserunt aedificantes.’

before the builders] Sanballat and Tobiah had publicly contemned Jehovah; perhaps they sought to alienate the Jews engaged in building the wall by means of their mockery and their provocation. Nehemiah prays, as it were, that the same builders who had heard their utterance of defiance might witness their overthrow. Compare again Rabshakeh’s endeavour to shake the fidelity of the people of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 18:26-28.

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. Nehemiah 4:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Nehemiah 3:36-37)

When Nehemiah heard of these contemptuous words, he committed the matter to God, entreating Him to hear how they (the Jews) were become a scorn, i.e., a subject of contempt, to turn the reproach of the enemies upon their own head, and to give them up the plunder in a land of captivity, i.e., in a land in which they would dwell as captives. He supplicates, moreover, that God would not cover, i.e., forgive (Psalm 85:3), their iniquity, and that their sin might not be blotted out from before His face, i.e., might not remain unpunished, "for they have provoked to wrath before the builders," i.e., openly challenged the wrath of God, by despising Him before the builders, so that they heard it. הכעים without an object, spoken of provoking the divine wrath by grievous sins; comp. 2 Kings 21:6 with 2 Chronicles 33:6.