Nehemiah 4:5 (LSB)

Passage

Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have vexed the builders.

Nearby Context

Nehemiah 4:3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”

Nehemiah 4:4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity.

Nehemiah 4:5 Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have vexed the builders.

Nehemiah 4:6 So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, and the people had a heart to work.

Nehemiah 4:7 Now it happened that when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the places broken down began to be closed, they were very angry.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "forgive", "iniquity", "blotted", "before", "vexed", and "builders". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "forgive" and "iniquity", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "Hear O our God for we are..." into verse 6's "So we built the wall and the...", so "forgive" and "iniquity" belong inside that flow. In Nehemiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "forgive" and "iniquity" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.