Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, April 12th, 2026
Second Sunday after Easter
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

JPS Old Testament

Nehemiah 4:5

And our adversaries said: 'They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.'

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Prayer;   Zeal, Religious;   Thompson Chain Reference - Co-Operation;   Imprecations;   Nehemiah;   Unity-Strife;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Samaria, Modern;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Samaritans;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Evil;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Sanballat;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Tobiah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Nehemiah;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Blot;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from your sight, because they have angered the builders.
Hebrew Names Version
and don't cover their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have provoked [you] to anger before the builders.
King James 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.
English Standard Version
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 Century Version
Do not hide their guilt or take away their sins so that you can't see them, because they have insulted the builders."
New English Translation
Do not cover their iniquity, and do not wipe out their sin from before them. For they have bitterly offended the builders!
Amplified Bible
Do not forgive their wrongdoing and do not let their sin be wiped out before You, for they have offended the builders [and provoked You].
New American Standard Bible
Do not forgive their guilt and do not let their sin be wiped out before You, for they have demoralized the builders.
World English Bible
and don't cover their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have provoked [you] to anger before the builders.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And couer not their iniquitie, neither let their sinne be put out in thy presence: for they haue prouoked vs before the builders.
Legacy Standard Bible
Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have vexed the builders.
Berean Standard Bible
Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked the builders.
Contemporary English Version
Don't forgive the mean and evil way they have insulted the builders."
Complete Jewish Bible
Our enemies were saying, "They won't know or see anything, until we have already infiltrated them and begun killing them and stopping the work."
Darby Translation
And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee; for they have provoked the builders.
Easy-to-Read Version
Don't take away their guilt or forgive the sins they have done in your sight. They have insulted and discouraged the builders."
George Lamsa Translation
And forgive not their offenses, and let not their sins be blotted out from before thee; for they are enraged, and have opposed the building which we are doing.
Good News Translation
Don't forgive the evil they do and don't forget their sins, for they have insulted us who are building."
Lexham English Bible
Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you. They have provoked the builders to anger.
Literal Translation
And 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.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Couer not their wickednesse, & put not out their sinne fro yi presence: for they haue prouoked the buylders.
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.
Bible in Basic English
Let not their wrongdoing be covered or their sin washed away from before you: for they have made you angry before the builders.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Couer not their wickednesse, and let not their sinne be put out in thy presence: for they haue prouoked the buylders.
King James Version (1611)
And couer not their iniquitie, and let not their sinne bee blotted out from before thee: for they haue prouoked thee to anger before the builders.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and do not cover their iniquity.
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.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
hile thou not the wickidnesse of hem, and her synnes be not doon awei bifor thi face; for thei scorneden bilderis.
Update Bible Version
and don't cover their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have provoked [you] 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.
New King James Version
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.
New Living Translation
Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders."
New Life Bible
Do not forgive their sin. Do not let their sin be covered from Your eyes. For they have made much fun of the builders.
New Revised Standard
Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from your sight; for they have hurled insults in the face of the builders.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and do not cover their iniquity, and, their sin before thee, let it not be blotted out, - for they have caused vexation before them who are building.
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.
Revised Standard Version
Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight; for they have provoked thee to anger before 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.
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.

Contextual Overview

1 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth; 2 and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein. 3 But we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. 4 And Judah said: 'The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.' 5 And our adversaries said: 'They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.' 6 And it came to pass that, when the Jews that dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times: 'Ye must return unto us from all places.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

cover not: Psalms 59:5-13, Psalms 69:27, Psalms 109:14, Jeremiah 18:23, 2 Timothy 4:14

their sin: Psalms 51:1, Psalms 51:9, Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah 44:22

before the builders: Isaiah 36:11, Isaiah 36:12

Reciprocal: Nehemiah 6:14 - think thou Job 16:18 - cover not Psalms 32:1 - covered Jeremiah 18:19 - hearken Lamentations 1:22 - all their Colossians 2:14 - Blotting

Cross-References

Genesis 4:10
And He said: 'What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground.
Genesis 4:11
And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
Genesis 31:2
And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime.
Genesis 31:5
and said unto them: 'I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the God of my father hath been with me.
Numbers 16:15
And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD: 'Respect not Thou their offering; I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.'
Job 5:2
For anger killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
Psalms 20:3
Send forth thy help from the sanctuary, and support thee out of Zion;

Gill's Notes on the 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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Nehemiah 4:5. Let not their sin be blotted out — These are the most terrible imprecations; but probably we should understand them as declaratory, for the same form of the verb, in the Hebrew, is used as precative and imperative. Turn their reproach - Their reproach shall be turned. Give them for a prey - They shall be given for a prey. Cover not their iniquity - Their iniquity shall not be covered. Let not their sin be blotted out - Their sin shall not be blotted out. All who know the genius of the Hebrew language, know that the future tense is used to express all these senses. Besides, we may rest assured that Nehemiah's curses, or declaration of God's judgments, had respect only to their bodies, and to their life: not to their souls and the world to come. And then they amount to no more than this: What a man soweth that he shall reap.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile