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Biblia Hebrica Stuttgartensia (1967/77)
Nehemiah 4:5
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalBible 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
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.
