Nehemiah asks God to not cover their guilt,
and to let not their sin be blotted out from your sight.
That petition echoes Jeremiah’s prayer concerning those who sought to hurt him on account of his faithful preaching. He prayed, Yet you, O Lord, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger
(Jeremiah 18:23). Nehemiah knew from Jerusalem’s capture and destruction that God most certainly heard Jeremiah’s prayer, as he had promised (Genesis 12:3; Deuteronomy 32:35). So Nehemiah courageously borrowed Jeremiah’s words to pray a parallel petition in his time.
5 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.