Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Nehemiah 4:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5And 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse continues the imprecation with captivity and unforgiven sin, preserving anger without commanding readers to enact it.
Read It With
- Nehemiah 4:1–4:6
Read Nehemiah 4:1–4:6 together. This verse continues the imprecation with captivity and unforgiven sin, preserving anger without commanding readers to enact it. Read Nehemiah 4:1–4:6 as one complete scene: Opponents ridicule the Jews and the wall; Nehemiah prays for their reproach to return, and the people join the wall to half its height.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Sanballat's anger and public mockery, Tobiah's taunt, Nehemiah's harsh prayer, and the people's continued work form one escalation. Its placement advances the book. The scene reports demeaning speech and an imprecatory response before highlighting communal resolve; report is not automatic endorsement of every word prayed. Within that movement, this verse continues the imprecation with captivity and unforgiven sin, preserving anger without commanding readers to enact it.
Read Nehemiah 4:1–6 together
Why these verses belong together: Sanballat's anger and public mockery, Tobiah's taunt, Nehemiah's harsh prayer, and the people's continued work form one escalation.
Verse 1. 1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.
Verse 2. 2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
Verse 3. 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
Verse 4. 4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:
Verse 5. 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.
Verse 6. 6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
Follow the Context
- Opponents ridicule the Jews and the wall; Nehemiah prays for their reproach to return, and the people join the wall to half its height.
- The scene reports demeaning speech and an imprecatory response before highlighting communal resolve; report is not automatic endorsement of every word prayed.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Nehemiah 4:5 does not reduce its distinct role—continues the imprecation with captivity and unforgiven sin, preserving anger without commanding readers to enact it—to a standalone claim or rule; read it within Nehemiah 4:1–4:6. This prayer does not give readers permission to enact vengeance, demonize neighboring peoples, or answer ridicule with abuse.
What Remains True
Within Nehemiah 4:1–4:6, Nehemiah 4:5 continues the imprecation with captivity and unforgiven sin, preserving anger without commanding readers to enact it. Targeted communities may bring anger to God while refusing to make revenge a modern program.
How It Can Shape Life
- At Nehemiah 4:5, attend to how the verse continues the imprecation with captivity and unforgiven sin, preserving anger without commanding readers to enact it. Document harassment, protect workers, and direct anger into accountable lament and nonretaliatory action.
Teach It Back
Explain Nehemiah 4:5's precise role in Nehemiah 4:1–4:6. Include the first historical horizon, the surrounding verses, one person or cost that could be obscured, material uncertainty, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Nehemiah 4:1–4:6 — Mockery, imprecation, and half-height progressSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The narrator gives opponents' words and Nehemiah's prayer, not neutral transcripts of every party's motives or a direct divine response.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Nehemiah 4:1–4:6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Nehemiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, Persian titles, names, and translation controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Neh.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 4:1–4:6
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Nehemiah with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded KJV comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, literary, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence in the notes is not treated as positive evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Nehemiah PDF, printed pp. 767–768, translation text and any translator notes printed for 4:1–4:6
Open source ↗