Text: Jeremiah 18:23
OT Text Referred to: Nehemiah 4:5
Subject: do not forgive them
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Both Jeremiah and Nehemiah pray imprecatory prayers asking God not to forgive their enemies' sins. Jeremiah pleads "Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight" (אַל־תְּכַפֵּר עַל־עֲוֹנָם, al-tekhapper al-avonam), while Nehemiah similarly asks "Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight" (אַל־תְּכַס עַל־עֲוֹנָם, al-tekhas al-avonam). Both use the language of "covering" or "wiping out" iniquity with the particle אַל (al, "do not"), requesting that God retain rather than forgive the guilt. The shared vocabulary and structure suggest Nehemiah deliberately echoes Jeremiah's prayer pattern, both men appealing to divine justice against those who actively oppose God's work — plotters against Jeremiah's life and mockers of Jerusalem's reconstruction.
Consolidated 2026-06-09 per the later-text → earlier-text canonical-direction ruling (Full Corpus Audit, Phase 0). The content below is preserved verbatim from the deleted file "Nehemiah 4.5 to Jeremiah 18.23"; fold unique material into the Significance during the Phase 3 IP audit, then remove this section.
Text: Nehemiah 4:5
OT Text Referred to: Jeremiah 18:23
Subject: Imprecatory prayer against enemies who oppose God's work
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Both Nehemiah 4:5 and Jeremiah 18:23 use strikingly similar imprecatory language: Nehemiah prays "Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out" (אַל־תְּכַס עַל־עֲוֺנָם, al-tekhas al-avonam), while Jeremiah asks "Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight" (אַל־תְּכַפֵּר עַל־עֲוֺנָם, al-tekhapper al-avonam). Both leaders face enemies opposing God's work — Sanballat and Tobiah mocking the wall-builders, and conspirators plotting against Jeremiah's life. The shared request that God not forgive their opponents places both prayers in the imprecatory tradition where the righteous appeal to divine justice against those who obstruct God's purposes, using nearly identical Hebrew constructions with the negated verb and עָוֺן (avon, "iniquity").