he visits the iniquities of the fathers

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What is the iniquity of the fathers in Exodus 34:7?

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Does “God Visit the Iniquities of the Fathers” on the “Third & Fourth Generations”?

Greg interprets a commonly misunderstood and difficult passage by looking at the details of the context.

Radio Caller: There’s at least four places in the Old Testament that talk about the Lord visiting the sins of the Father unto the third and fourth generations. Can you work through figuring out what that’s about?

Greg: Let’s talk about that for a few moments. I think this is a good example of a “Never Read a Bible Verse” kind of application. I actually think this is a little bit of a difficult passage to figure out. Two things to look at. It’s made more difficult because it’s usually quoted in part, and not in whole. It is misquoted, and the details of even what is quoted are not attended to. So entire ministries, whole enterprises, have been built on a big misunderstanding about this passage. Even if someone doesn’t know what a passage means, it may possible to figure out what the passage does not mean.

The way this is usually cited—it comes up first in Exodus 20, which is the Ten Commandments—is that people say we know that “the sins of the fathers are visited on the children to the third and fourth generation.” What this is commonly said to mean is that you may have ancestral curses because of the activities of your fathers, your ancestors. Generally, these activities have to do with extreme sin or occult involvement, but it may also be having an abortion. This then results in something bad happening to an individual because of this other person’s sinful activity.

The application of this is that someone is going through something really hard and has a besetting sin or problem that they can’t get rid of, and it is suggested to them that there is a spiritual dynamic that is tied to the teaching of this verse. There is a generational sin and curse that then must be broken through some spiritual discipline of some sort. Some have gone to great extent, written whole books, on how to unwind this spiritual oppression coming from past generations. They step you through all these little exercises. Does this sound familiar?

Caller: Yes.

Greg: Now, let’s go back to the verse, Exodus 20:5–6: “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (NASB).

That’s the whole quote. That’s a lot more than most people who know about this verse have ever heard. Let me ask you a question. This visiting of the sins of the father on the children, whatever that means, whatever that “visiting” is, who is the active agent? God is doing the visiting. So, if you have a technique to undo this activity, who are you fighting? God. What could be more obvious?

I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but God is doing it. And if you try to undo it, you are fighting God. There is no technique, there is no prayer, there is no spiritual enterprise that you’re going to be able to invoke against this because anyone who is doing so will be fighting God.

Now keep in mind, I am saying that whatever is going on here is God’s doing. There may be legitimate spiritual problems people are having that people should be praying about, but whatever spiritual problems they’re having may not at all be related to this. And, if they are, and what they’re experiencing is an example of the outworking of this declaration by God, then they are fighting God by trying to undo it.

So then what is going on? Well, we know that God is a jealous God. They are not to worship idols. He says then He will do something and this is very odd. He will visit the “iniquities of the father on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.”

We have a father. We have a child, first generation. We have a grandson, second generation. We have a great-grandson, third generation. So God is only visiting the iniquity on the son, the great-grandson, and the great-great grandson. Doesn’t it seem odd that he says third and fourth, and not second? Now maybe he means to the third and fourth so that it’s just for four generations before this peters out. Maybe. Verse 6 says, “but showing lovingkindness to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Caller: But that’s a big part of my question. That thousands doesn’t seem to be thousands generations, that the third and fourth are. I wasn’t sure that the thousands meant thousands of generations or if it just meant thousands.

Greg: This is where it’s helpful to go back to some of the other four places where this same concept is quoted here.

Caller: It’s always the same word there. The word thousand doesn’t look like it has the “generation” in there.

Greg: It could mean thousands of generations. That could be a vagueness. But what is clear is there is a contrast between third and fourth generations, and thousands. Now what do you think God intends to be the greater number, those in the third and fourth generations or those in thousands?

Caller: The point is that His lovingkindness is so much greater.

Greg: Oh, God bless you! “...On the children, and on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me.” Notice the qualifier. “...And showing lovingkindness to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Now what does the history of Israel demonstrate? It demonstrates that when God deals with Israel, He deals with them as a nation. When the fathers, the ones in control, the adults are bad, everybody gets the punishment. It’s not because the children are singled out to be punished for the sins of the father. In fact, there’s an entire chapter, Ezekiel 18, one whole chapter that is meant to repudiate that concept.

The way the chapter starts is, “You have a saying, ‘The fathers eat the sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge.’” Do you see the play on words here? The fathers do it, but the children get the result. God says to quit saying that thing because I’m not going to punish the kids for what the parents do wrong.

That’s different, I think, from dealing with the nation as a whole. When the nation as a whole is rebellious and idolatrous, which is what the Exodus passage is about, God punishes the nation.

Even though Elijah found out there were still 5,000 people who had not bent their knee to Baal, still the nation was a nation of Baal-worshipers so they were punished by God as a nation. The kids got it just like the parents. As long as the group as a whole continued in that, God would punish them. And He did until you got a king and a people that reformed the nation. Then God blesses them. There were reformers like Hezekiah and Manasseh, later in his life. There were these times when this happened. Then God’s lovingkindness was abundant.

In Exodus, God is talking about how He’s going to deal with the nation. After all, this is the Mosaic Covenant with the nation of Israel, so He’s setting up the blessings and curses for the nation as a whole based on how they keep up their end of the covenant. They should not be idolatrous because He’s a jealous God, and if they’re idolatrous they’re going to be punished. And this is the way He characterizes the consequences, “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” If you keep hating me, I’ll keep punishing you for it.

However, He will show lovingkindness to thousands to those who love Him and keep His commandments. He’s emphasizing His long suffering and His mercy over and against His justice and wrath.

He does that many times in the Old Testament text. He is abundant in lovingkindness; He is slow to anger. And I think that’s what is really going on in this passage. He’s laying out the consequences for worshiping false idols, and He’s contrasting His great lovingkindness with his wrath. That’s my take on it.

Caller: So you think the point the contrast that His lovingkindness is much greater than his anger?

Greg: I think the reason He says third and fourth generations versus thousands is to show that one is greater than the other. He’s speaking in general terms here, not specific numbers.

One father does it; one kid gets it. That’s excluded by the Ezekiel passage that teaches against the idea that a child is punished for his parents’ sin. God is talking about the nation of Israel in Exodus, the group as a whole, as He’s making a covenant with them that has obligations on each side. He is expressing His judgement on them for their idolatry, which shows they hate Him, and He will continue to do that generation to generation to generation as long as they hate Him.

This verse is a linguistic device, a poetic devise if you will, “visit the iniquity of the father on the children, and on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” But for those who don’t hate Him but do love Him and do keep His commandments, He’s going to pour out His grace and lovingkindness to the nation.

I think there’s a kind of literary device that’s going on in the verse. It is not about individual people who receive generational sins or curses; it’s a covenant for how God will deal with the Nation depending on whether they hate or love Him.

Greg Koukl—Old Testament Law and Christians

Downplaying god’s wrath, the bible: reading the “ordinary” way.

Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Psalm 79:8; Psalm 109:14; Isaiah 65:6–7; Jeremiah 32:18

7  g keeping steadfast love for thousands , 1 h forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin , but i who will by no means clear the guilty , j visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children , to the third and the fourth generation . ”

18  f ‘ The L ord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love , forgiving iniquity and transgression , but he will by no means clear the guilty , g visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children , to the third and the fourth generation . ’

8  p Do not remember against us q our former iniquities ; 1

let your compassion come speedily to meet us ,

for we are r brought very low .

14  May p the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the L ord ,

and let not the sin of his mother be q blotted out !

6  Behold , m it is written before me :

n “ I will not keep silent , but I will repay ;

o I will indeed repay into their lap

7  both your iniquities p and your fathers’ iniquities together ,

says the L ord ;

q because they made offerings on the mountains

q and insulted me on the hills ,

I will measure into their lap

payment for their former deeds . ” 1

18  j You show steadfast love to thousands , j but you repay the guilt of fathers k to their children after them , O great and l mighty God , whose name is the m L ord of hosts ,

Leviticus 19:27

What Does It Mean That the Sins of the Fathers Are Visited on the 3rd and 4th Generation?

• May 29, 2023
• By J.D. Greear
• Download Audio

This week, Pastor J.D. answers the question “What does it mean that the sins of the fathers are visited on the 3rd and 4th generation ? ”

Show Notes:

• Let’s start with what it clearly doesn’t mean. The Bible says elsewhere that it would be unjust for God to hold the children guilty for the sins of the parents.
• What it is doing is stating that sins of the fathers affect the children.
• So take the Genesis story of Joseph: Joseph’s brothers are jealous of him and sold him into slavery. But that sin of jealousy didn’t come out of nowhere. Joseph was the son of Rachel who was Jacob’s favorite wife. Jacob had showed extensive favoritism to Rachel and Joseph, so the sons of Leah took it out on him.
• I’m not saying they’re innocent. I’m just saying that they were actually responding to anger and bitterness over the sin’s of their father.
• If we worship the idol of success, then your kids will always have that pressure of feeling like they got to be first or best or top of their class.
• If there’s one big takeaway from this Ask Me Anything podcast it’s that sin is serious. It is deadly serious. It’s like John Owen, the Puritan always said, “You got to be killing sin, or it’s going to be killing you at any given moment.” One of those two things is happening and not just in you, and you and your children and those you influence for generations to come.
• There’s a movie out right now called Jesus Revolution about the life of Greg Laurie. Greg Laurie was raised by a single mother who struggled with addiction and had multiple failed marriages. As a result, Greg Laurie himself experimented with drugs and lived a rebellious lifestyle as a teenager. In some ways, that’s her sin being replicated in him. But then Greg Laurie becomes a Christian and helps lead this Jesus movement. He becomes a pastor and founds Harvest Christian Fellowship out in California. So yes, it’s true that God sometimes lets the effects of our sin go into the third and fourth generation. But it’s also true that one courageous act of faith can change not just your life and your destiny, but the destiny of your children, your children’s children, and the lives of those you influence for generations to come.
• So for those that are known by God and loved by God, Romans 8:28 says that he can use all things for good, including the sins and the struggles that at one point in our life negatively affected us. God can reweave those for good in our life and produce the gold of his presence and and the brokenness of our sorrow.

Want to ask J.D. a question? Head to our  Ask Me Anything hub  to submit your question.

As always, don’t forget to rate and review this podcast!

Find Pastor J.D. on  Twitter ,  Instagram , and  Facebook .

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The Sins of Our Fathers

This passage in exodus is the most referenced throughout the bible..

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

It’s not hard to understand why this passage in Exodus is the most referenced Scripture throughout the Hebrew Bible — who doesn’t want to be reminded of some of the most beautiful aspects of God’s character? It’s wonderful, gracious, and encouraging.

It makes the next words in the passage all the more challenging (and potentially shocking).

[God] does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth [generation]. (Exodus 34:7b)

So does God hold us accountable for the mistakes our parents make? These verses in Exodus seem to say so. And this seems a little harsh, right? It’s one thing to say we are shaped by our parents — we all know that. We inherit things like physical features, health issues, mannerisms, and ways of viewing the world from them. It is clear that who our parents are, and even the choices they make, affect us greatly. But will we really be punished for something our parents did?

In this text, we’re confronted with the intimidating concept of generational accountability. But if we dig a little deeper, we’ll see that God isn’t saying he’ll bring his wrath upon totally innocent children for their parents’ actions. God is warning his people that each generation will be held accountable if they repeat the sins of the previous generation.

God’s Justice is About a Covenant of Love

First, let’s look at the context. Like any challenging biblical claim, this verse doesn’t come out of nowhere. In fact, it’s set against the backdrop of an extremely important description of God’s character.

Exodus 34 finds Moses at the top of Mount Sinai, formalizing Israel’s covenant relationship with God while everyone else stays below. God has just rescued the Israelites from slavery and oppression in Egypt, and the covenant relationship he’s forging with Israel will display his loving character to the nations. God is investing heavily in this group of people, and he is requiring that they, in turn, live a certain way.

But this is actually Moses’ second time atop Mount Sinai, formalizing Israel’s covenant with God. He had already spent 40 days and 40 nights atop the mountain with God (Exodus 24-32), and during his absence, the Israelites got impatient and scared. Could they really trust God would provide for them? Why was Moses taking so long?

Before Moses even made it back down the mountain, the Israelites took matters into their own hands.

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:1-4)

Israel created an idol to take the place of God while God was forming an eternal covenant relationship with them. Talk about insulting! This is like the bride kissing a groomsman during her wedding ceremony. God is understandably angry.

Astonishingly, God decides to continue his partnership with Israel — not because of their merit but because of his grace, compassion, and loyal love.

But he wants Israel to know his patience is not an excuse to continue in this type of betrayal. God’s words on generational accountability are part of a larger statement he makes to Moses about his character, when Moses goes back up the mountain.

Yahweh, Yahweh — A God compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger, Abounding in loyal love and faithfulness. He maintains loyal love for thousands, Forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sins. But he won’t declare innocent the guilty. He will bring the iniquities of the fathers upon the third and the fourth. (Exodus 34:6-7)

With this context in mind, we can understand why God is thinking about the future of Israel and the likelihood that they will continue to violate the terms of the covenant. God is in this relationship with Israel for the long haul. He knows that each new generation is going to betray him like the last, and he is making clear that future generations will still be held accountable to his covenant terms.

The bottom line is that God’s love wouldn’t be truly loving without God’s justice . So this passage, which at first appears harsh, is really about God preserving his covenant of love with humanity.

So Who’s Responsible for What?

Why does God say he will hold each generation accountable to “the third and the fourth?” What does this even mean? Is the fifth generation off the hook?

“Third and fourth” is a Hebrew idiom that means “for whatever number it takes.”

God (of course) was right about the trajectory of the Israelites. Generations after this first proclamation of generational accountability in Exodus 34, Israel betrays their covenant so many times that they find themselves in exile. The prophet Jeremiah reflects on their exile with language from God’s statement in Exodus.

I prayed to the Lord, saying: “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 32:16-19)

Jeremiah reflects on God’s statement in Exodus, “you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them,” but then he continues to make clear what this really means. God will reward each person according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

In other words, Israel finds themselves in exile because the current generation repeated the sins of their fathers: the betrayal of the covenant.

God’s heart isn’t about punishing people. This verse makes clear that God does not punish children for their parents’ sins. God does not punish a new generation for the sins of a former generation. But God does hold children who don’t learn from their parents’ mistakes accountable. It is the responsibility of every generation to not repeat the mistakes of those that came before them.

And don’t miss the contrast God makes in these verses. Generational accountability lasts through the “third and fourth” generation, but God’s loyal love lasts for “thousands” of generations.

Remembering the Past Helps Us Not Repeat It

The children of Israel discovered firsthand what we have all seen in our own lives. We may not be responsible for our parents’ mistakes, but we still have to deal with the consequences of their choices.

This reality should be both sobering and hopeful.

For example, those with addiction or abuse in their family trees have already had to deal with the consequences of the mistakes of their parents or grandparents. It is not easy, but when people with this kind of family background put in the remarkable effort to live their lives differently, the redemptive work of God shines all the brighter. When we observe brokenness within our families and choose a different path, one that aligns with God’s redemptive plan for humanity, we can see clearly the loyal love of God.

Hundreds of times throughout Scripture God gives his people the commandment to remember ─ remember where they came from, remember slavery and exile, remember God’s work of deliverance and his promises for the future.

For Israel (and for us too), remembering the sins of our parents is the key to doing things differently. Denying that something bad happened in the past is a dangerous step toward prolonging harmful patterns and cycles within our families and communities. And when we choose denial, we don’t leave room for celebrating God’s redemptive work. Remembering, and sometimes grieving, the seasons of “exile” in our lives and the sins of our pasts is the first step towards celebrating the deliverance God has woven into our stories.

When we rightly remember past wrongs, we open ourselves up to the opportunity to do things differently in our own lives and in the lives of future generations, and we create space to celebrate God’s miraculous, loyal love.

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What does it mean when God says He will "visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations"?

Exodus 34:7

NIV - 7 Maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.

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Does God Punish Sons for the Sins of Their Fathers?

More by wyatt.

As part of the Ten Commandments, God declares that he visits “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me” (Exod 20:5). And in his self-revelation to Moses, he again says that he will visit “the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exod 34:7).

An implication is that God punishes grandchildren on behalf of their grandparents. Yet elsewhere Scripture states, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son” (Ezek 18:20). And Christians likewise emphasize personal culpability for our sins.

So how should we understand God’s words in Exodus? My answer is that, rather than statements about generational punishment, his words instead emphasize a law of nature and the super-abundance of grace despite human sin. 

The Hatred of Fathers Has a Time Limit

In the fuller context of Exodus 20:5, God explains that he only visits the iniquity of the third and fourth generation ”of those who hate me.” This qualification is key. God does not visit the iniquity of the third and fourth generation of those who love him. 

The reformer Peter Vermigli (1499–1562) explains: “Just how God visits the iniquity of the parents to the children unto the third and fourth generation, the Law itself declares well enough from the added statement, ‘those hating me.’ From this it is apparent that only the children who are like their parents will bear their sins. If they depart from their wickedness, they will not bear their sins” (§36, On Original Sin ).

He is correct. But then the question follows as to why only the third and fourth generation? (Likely three or four generations here symbolizes a small number rather than being a precise count). If the point of the visitation is to execute justice against those who hate God, then why not the fifth or even the fiftieth generation? 

There are two answers. The first answer is that hatred for God begets itself in a limited way. Hate has a limited scope and power. A father may hate God and train up his children to hate God as well. That hatred could reach three of four generations. Yet it is a sort of law of nature that hatred in comparison to love is weak and feeble. 

Even a wicked father can only pass on his evil habits and actions for a few generations. God’s love and grace in contrast never end. It transforms thousands. That leads to the second answer. 

Grace Superabounds 

In the next verse (Exod 20:6), God contrasts the three or four generations of evil with his “steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exod 20:6 ESV). In Exodus 34:6–7, God also says: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands , forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”

The word thousands in both contexts contrasts with the third and fourth generation (see Exod 34:7). The word thousands here is not meant to be a literal number but to demonstrate the ubiquity and massiveness of God’s grace to sinners—to those whom he forgives. 

This leads to the intriguing possibly suggested by the ESV translators’ footnote that thousands means “ thousandth generation ” in Exodus 20:6. In fact, the NET Bible translates the Hebrew word as “a thousand generations” largely, it seems, because of the contrast with the third and fourth generation in Exodus 20:5.

A number of ancient translations (Ethiopic, Armenian, Bohairic) as well as three pentateuchal targumim (ancient Aramaic paraphrases) all add the word generation to thousands. In short, seeing the explicit contrast between the third and fourth generation with a thousand generations has ancient support. And I think it is the correct interpretation due to the contrast between the third and fourth generation and the thousands (of generations). 

Even if it is not, grace still is shown here to superabound. Whereas sin increases over three or four generations, grace overflows upon thousands (of generations). Rather than being a text about generational sin or vicarious punishment of children for the sins of their grandparents, the maximal graciousness of God here is highlighted. 

These two answers explain God’s self-revelation in these two passages. First, sin has limited power, although it can often seep its way up to a few short generations. And second, God’s grace superabounds to thousands despite sin’s crawl. The passage is not about generational guilt and punishment. It is about God’s superabounding grace that pulverizes sin’s evil. 

Wyatt Graham (PhD., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as the Executive Director of TGC Canada. You can follow him on Twitter at @ wagraham .

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Home » Family QAs » Get Help » Family Q&A » Faith Q&As » Understanding the “Generational Curse” of Exodus 34:7

Understanding the “Generational Curse” of Exodus 34:7

Exodus 34:7 says that God “[visits] the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” This worries me because my family has some skeletons in the closet — and sometimes I think past sins are playing out. Does God hold me responsible for something that someone else did? Is a “generational curse” real?

Be assured: God does not “hold you responsible for something that someone else did.” But to understand the Lord’s words to Moses, we need to consider the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Old Testament doctrine: “Generational curse”

In Romans, chapters 5 through 7 , the apostle Paul argues that, from a certain point of view, human sin and death are a corporate problem rather than an individual one. He tells us that “one man’s sin [Adam] brought guilt to all people” ( Romans 5:18, NIRV ) and that “sin entered the world because one man sinned. And death came because of sin” ( Romans 5:12, NIRV ).

This is why each one of us remains a “slave of sin” unless we’re “set free” by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ ( Romans 6:20-22, NIRV ).

What the “generational curse” is really about

The skeletons in your closet weren’t put there by your dad or your grandmother or your great-aunt. They’re the work of your First Parents . You were in Adam when he broke God’s commandment. You were condemned with him . But that’s not the end of the story — praise God!

Just as you were in Adam when he fell from grace, so now, if you believe in Jesus, you are in Christ through faith. This is what Paul means when he says that “one man [Jesus] did obey. That is why many people will be made right with God.” ( Romans 5:19, NIRV ).

To get out from under the “generational curse,” you have to be grafted into a whole new family tree ( Romans 11:11-24 ).

New Testament teaching: Salvation is individual

There is only one standard God uses to judge the world and determine who is saved and who isn’t: faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible confirms this in several passages, including:

• “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” ( 1 John 5:12, ESV ).
• “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” ( John 3:17-18, ESV ).

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah wrote 600 years before the birth of Christ, and he anticipated this New Testament perspective. That ultimately, you will answer for your own actions:

“In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes. But the children have a bitter taste in their mouths.’ Instead, everyone will die for their own sin. The one who eats sour grapes will taste how bitter they are” ( Jeremiah 31:29-30, NIRV ).

Every individual is responsible for their own choices

In the end, the only choice that really counts is how you answer this question: “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” ( Matthew 27:22, ESV )

Will you reject Him?

Will you spend eternity separated from God ( Matthew 8:12 , Matthew 13:42 )? It won’t be because of the skeletons in your family closet. It will be because you didn’t embrace the gift of God’s forgiveness and grace through Jesus Christ ( John 1:17 , John 3:16 ).

Or will you receive Him?

Will you live forever in fellowship with the Heavenly Father? If so, it won’t be because you somehow managed to avoid the mistakes that previous generations made. It will be because you accepted God’s merciful offer of unmerited deliverance and salvation .

No one can make that decision for you. Not your parents, your grandparents, your aunts, uncles, spouse, children, grandchildren, or friends. It’s your decision to make. Even the worst offender in a long line of sinners can be saved if they turn to Christ.

But what about addiction and abuse?

Set theology aside for a moment. Common sense tells us that behavior and attitude problems tend to run in families. Just like physical characteristics of height, weight, hair color, and complexion.

In the same way, certain types of sin can pass from generation to generation. This is particularly true of addictive behaviors such as alcoholism. Similarly, physical and sexual abuse might become ingrained in the psychological legacy of certain families.

However, none of this should be viewed in terms of an irreversible “curse.” Spiritual deliverance is available to everyone who sincerely calls upon the name of the Lord ( Romans 10:13 ). And there are many sources of professional assistance for those who need practical help — pastors, therapists, counselors, and doctors.

Would you let us be your starting point for help?

If you’d like to talk more about your specific situation, call our licensed or pastoral counselors for a free over-the-phone consultation at 1-855-771-HELP (4357) . They’d welcome the chance to hear your story and point you to hope and resources.

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Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers

Released From Shame: Moving Beyond the Pain of the Past

Legacy Now: Why Everything About You Matters 

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30 Ways a Mother Can Bless Her Children

Becoming a Family that Heals: How to Resolve Past Issues and Free Your Future

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8 Bible Verses about Iniquity, God's Attitude Toward

Most Relevant Verses

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?

The Lord is righteous within her; He will do no injustice. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He does not fail. But the unjust knows no shame.

Thus says the Lord to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account.”

who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.

He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.”

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.

“ For I will be merciful to their iniquities , And I will remember their sins no more .”

Bible Theasaurus

• Attitude ( 52 instances )
• Toward ( 811 instances )

Related Topics

• People Commended By God
• Sin, And God's Character
• Sin, Deliverance From God
• 4 more topics on Iniquity,
• 52 more topics on Attitude

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51 Bible Verses about Sins Of The Fathers

Ezekiel 18:1-32 esv / 8 helpful votes helpful not helpful.

The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord God , this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die. “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— ...

Ezekiel 18:20 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Exodus 20:5 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Deuteronomy 24:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

Numbers 14:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’

Psalm 79:8 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.

Numbers 14:1-45 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ...

Leviticus 26:39 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies' lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.

Exodus 34:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Deuteronomy 5:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Leviticus 26:40 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,

Exodus 20:5-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ...

Genesis 26:1-35 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ...

Hebrews 12:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

Galatians 5:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Romans 5:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Romans 3:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:1-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) ...

Luke 16:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Daniel 9:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.

Ezekiel 33:14-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Ezekiel 18:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’?

Jeremiah 32:17-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

‘Ah, Lord God ! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts,

Jeremiah 31:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

In those days they shall no longer say: “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

Jeremiah 16:10-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord , and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me.

Jeremiah 16:10-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord , and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,

Isaiah 65:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Behold, it is written before me: “I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap

Isaiah 53:1-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ...

Isaiah 14:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities.”

Psalm 103:17-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

Job 21:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.

Nehemiah 9:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

2 Kings 14:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

2 Samuel 12:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord , the child who is born to you shall die.”

2 Samuel 12:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, ...

2 Samuel 11:1-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” ...

Deuteronomy 5:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Leviticus 26:39-42 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies' lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them. “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

Leviticus 26:1-46 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord . “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. ...

Exodus 34:6-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord , the Lord , a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:1-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord . ...

Exodus 20:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Genesis 26:1-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Genesis 17:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

Genesis 17:7-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

Genesis 15:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And he believed the Lord , and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 12:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

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Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles , a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.

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