Nehemiah 4:5

and cover not their iniquity i.e. forgive it not. Cf. Psalms 85:2, -Thou hast forgiventhe iniquity of thy people, thou hast coveredall 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 Psalms 109:14, -Let the iniquity of his fathers be rememberedwith the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out." The metaphor is differently applied in Psalms 69:28, -Let them be blotted outof the book of life."

for they have provokedthee 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.