Deuteronomy 5:9

5:9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish ¹  the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject ²  me, ³ 

Joshua 7:24-25

7:24 Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan, son of Zerah, along with the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, ox, donkey, sheep, tent, and all that belonged to him and brought them up to the Valley of Disaster. ⁴  7:25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster ⁵  on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you today!” All Israel stoned him to death. (They also stoned and burned the others.) ⁶ 

Job 21:19

21:19 You may say, ⁷  ‘God stores up a man’s ⁸  punishment for his children!’ ⁹ 

Instead let him repay ¹⁰  the man himself ¹¹ 

so that ¹²  he may know it!

Isaiah 14:21-22

14:21 Prepare to execute ¹³  his sons

for the sins their ancestors have committed. ¹⁴ 

They must not rise up and take possession of the earth,

or fill the surface of the world with cities.” ¹⁵ 

14:22 “I will rise up against them,”

says the Lord who commands armies.

“I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, ¹⁶ 

including the offspring she produces,” ¹⁷ 

says the Lord.

Revelation 2:20-23

2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that ¹⁸  woman ¹⁹  Jezebel, ²⁰  who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives ²¹  my servants ²²  to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²³  2:21 I ²⁴  have given her time to repent, but ²⁵  she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. 2:22 Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, ²⁶  and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, ²⁷  unless they repent of her deeds. 2:23 Furthermore, I will strike her followers ²⁸  with a deadly disease, ²⁹  and then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will repay ³⁰  each one of you ³¹  what your deeds deserve. ³² 

[5:9]  ¹ tn In the Hebrew text the form is a participle, which is subordinated to what precedes. For the sake of English style, the translation divides this lengthy verse into two sentences.

[5:9]  ² tn Heb “who hate” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). Just as “to love” (אָהַב, ’ahav) means in a covenant context “to choose, obey,” so “to hate” (שָׂנֵא, sane’) means “to reject, disobey” (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37; see also 5:10).

[5:9]  ³ tn Heb “visiting the sin of fathers upon sons and upon a third (generation) and upon a fourth (generation) of those who hate me.” God sometimes punishes children for the sins of a father (cf. Num 16:27, 32; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Sam 21:1-9). On the principle of corporate solidarity and responsibility in OT thought see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). In the idiom of the text, the father is the first generation and the “sons” the second generation, making grandsons the third and great-grandsons the fourth. The reference to a third and fourth generation is a way of emphasizing that the sinner’s punishment would last throughout his lifetime. In this culture, where men married and fathered children at a relatively young age, it would not be unusual for one to see his great-grandsons. In an Aramaic tomb inscription from Nerab dating to the seventh century b.c., Agbar observes that he was surrounded by “children of the fourth generation” as he lay on his death bed (see ANET 661). The language of the text differs from Exod 34:7, the sons are the first generation, the grandsons (literally, “sons of the sons”) the second, great-grandsons the third, and great-great-grandsons the fourth. One could argue that formulation in Deut 5:9 (see also Exod 20:50) is elliptical/abbreviated or that it suffers from textual corruption (the repetition of the words “sons” would invite accidental omission).

[7:24]  ⁴ tn Or “Trouble” The name is “Achor” in Hebrew, which means “disaster” or “trouble” (also in v. 26).

[7:25]  ⁵ tn Or “trouble.” The word is “achor” in Hebrew (also in the following clause).

[7:25]  ⁶ tc Heb “and they burned them with fire and they stoned them with stones.” These words are somewhat parenthetical in nature and are omitted in the LXX; they may represent a later scribal addition.

[21:19]  ⁷ tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for the sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).

[21:19]  ⁸ tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”

[21:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “his sons.”

[21:19]  ¹⁰ tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to their normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.

[21:19]  ¹¹ tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”

[21:19]  ¹² tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may know [or realize].”

[14:21]  ¹³ tn Or “the place of slaughter for.”

[14:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for the sin of their fathers.”

[14:21]  ¹⁵ sn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:320, n. 10) suggests that the garrison cities of the mighty empire are in view here.

[14:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant” (ASV, NAB, and NRSV all similar).

[14:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “descendant and child.”

[2:20]  ¹⁸ tn The Greek article has been translated here with demonstrative force.

[2:20]  ¹⁹ tc The ms evidence for γυναῖκα (gunaika, “woman”) alone includes {א C P 1611 2053 pc lat}. The ms evidence for the addition of “your” (σου, sou) includes A 1006 2351 Ï^K pc sy. With the pronoun, the text reads “your wife, Jezebel” instead of “that woman, Jezebel.” In Revelation, A C are the most important mss, along with א Ì⁴⁷ (which only reads in portions of chapters 9-17) 1006 1611 2053; in this instance, the external evidence slightly favors the shorter reading. But internally, it gains strength. The longer reading implies the idea that the angel in 2:18 is the bishop or leader of the church in Thyatira. The pronoun “your” (σου) is used four times in vv. 19-20 and may have been the cause for the scribe copying it again. Further, once the monarchical episcopate was in vogue (beginning in the 2nd century) scribes might have been prone to add “your” here.

[2:20]  ²⁰ sn Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kgs 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.

[2:20]  ²¹ tn Grk “teaches and deceives” (διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ, didaskei kai plana), a construction in which the first verb appears to specify the means by which the second is accomplished: “by her teaching, deceives…”

[2:20]  ²² tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[2:20]  ²³ sn To commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Note the conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:29, which specifically prohibits Gentile Christians from engaging in these activities.

[2:21]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and contemporary English style.

[2:21]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to bring out the contrast present in this woman’s obstinate refusal to repent.

[2:22]  ²⁶ tn Grk “onto a bed,” in this context an idiom for severe illness (L&N 23.152).

[2:22]  ²⁷ tn Or “into great distress.” The suffering here is not specified as physical or emotional, and could involve persecution.

[2:23]  ²⁸ tn Grk “her children,” but in this context a reference to this woman’s followers or disciples is more likely meant.

[2:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “I will kill with death.” θάνατος (qanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).

[2:23]  ³⁰ tn Grk “I will give.” The sense of δίδωμι (didwmi) in this context is more “repay” than “give.”

[2:23]  ³¹ sn This pronoun and the following one are plural in the Greek text.

[2:23]  ³² tn Grk “each one of you according to your works.”