Exodus 20:5

20:5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, ¹  for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous ²  God, responding to ³  the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations ⁴  of those who reject me, ⁵ 

Leviticus 26:39-40

Restoration through Confession and Repentance

26:39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of ⁶  their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ ⁷  iniquities which are with them. 26:40 However, when ⁸  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ⁹  by which they also walked ¹⁰  in hostility against me ¹¹ 

Psalms 106:6-48

106:6 We have sinned like ¹²  our ancestors; ¹³ 

we have done wrong, we have done evil.

106:7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds,

they failed to remember your many acts of loyal love,

and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea. ¹⁴ 

106:8 Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation, ¹⁵ 

that he might reveal his power.

106:9 He shouted at ¹⁶  the Red Sea and it dried up;

he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.

106:10 He delivered them from the power ¹⁷  of the one who hated them,

and rescued ¹⁸  them from the power ¹⁹  of the enemy.

106:11 The water covered their enemies;

not even one of them survived. ²⁰ 

106:12 They believed his promises; ²¹ 

they sang praises to him.

106:13 They quickly forgot what he had done; ²² 

they did not wait for his instructions. ²³ 

106:14 In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving ²⁴  for meat; ²⁵ 

they challenged God ²⁶  in the desert.

106:15 He granted their request,

then struck them with a disease. ²⁷ 

106:16 In the camp they resented ²⁸  Moses,

and Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest. ²⁹ 

106:17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;

it engulfed ³⁰  the group led by Abiram. ³¹ 

106:18 Fire burned their group;

the flames scorched the wicked. ³² 

106:19 They made an image of a calf at Horeb,

and worshiped a metal idol.

106:20 They traded their majestic God ³³ 

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

106:21 They rejected ³⁴  the God who delivered them,

the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,

106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,

mighty ³⁵  acts by the Red Sea.

106:23 He threatened ³⁶  to destroy them,

but ³⁷  Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him ³⁸ 

and turned back his destructive anger. ³⁹ 

106:24 They rejected the fruitful land; ⁴⁰ 

they did not believe his promise. ⁴¹ 

106:25 They grumbled in their tents; ⁴² 

they did not obey ⁴³  the Lord.

106:26 So he made a solemn vow ⁴⁴ 

that he would make them die ⁴⁵  in the desert,

106:27 make their descendants ⁴⁶  die ⁴⁷  among the nations,

and scatter them among foreign lands. ⁴⁸ 

106:28 They worshiped ⁴⁹  Baal of Peor,

and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. ⁵⁰ 

106:29 They made the Lord angry ⁵¹  by their actions,

and a plague broke out among them.

106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, ⁵² 

and the plague subsided.

106:31 This brought him a reward,

an eternal gift. ⁵³ 

106:32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,

and Moses suffered ⁵⁴  because of them,

106:33 for they aroused ⁵⁵  his temper, ⁵⁶ 

and he spoke rashly. ⁵⁷ 

106:34 They did not destroy the nations, ⁵⁸ 

as the Lord had commanded them to do.

106:35 They mixed in with the nations

and learned their ways. ⁵⁹ 

106:36 They worshiped ⁶⁰  their idols,

which became a snare to them. ⁶¹ 

106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. ⁶² 

106:38 They shed innocent blood –

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.

The land was polluted by bloodshed. ⁶³ 

106:39 They were defiled by their deeds,

and unfaithful in their actions. ⁶⁴ 

106:40 So the Lord was angry with his people ⁶⁵ 

and despised the people who belong to him. ⁶⁶ 

106:41 He handed them over to ⁶⁷  the nations,

and those who hated them ruled over them.

106:42 Their enemies oppressed them;

they were subject to their authority. ⁶⁸ 

106:43 Many times he delivered ⁶⁹  them,

but they had a rebellious attitude, ⁷⁰ 

and degraded themselves ⁷¹  by their sin.

106:44 Yet he took notice of their distress,

when he heard their cry for help.

106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,

and relented ⁷²  because of his great loyal love.

106:46 He caused all their conquerors ⁷³ 

to have pity on them.

106:47 Deliver us, O Lord, our God!

Gather us from among the nations!

Then we will give thanks ⁷⁴  to your holy name,

and boast about your praiseworthy deeds. ⁷⁵ 

106:48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise, ⁷⁶ 

in the future and forevermore. ⁷⁷ 

Let all the people say, “We agree! ⁷⁸  Praise the Lord!” ⁷⁹ 

Matthew 23:31-32

23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors!

Luke 11:47-51

11:47 Woe to you! You build ⁸⁰  the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors ⁸¹  killed. 11:48 So you testify that you approve of ⁸²  the deeds of your ancestors, ⁸³  because they killed the prophets ⁸⁴  and you build their ⁸⁵  tombs! ⁸⁶  11:49 For this reason also the wisdom ⁸⁷  of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 11:50 so that this generation may be held accountable ⁸⁸  for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning ⁸⁹  of the world, ⁹⁰  11:51 from the blood of Abel ⁹¹  to the blood of Zechariah, ⁹²  who was killed ⁹³  between the altar and the sanctuary. ⁹⁴  Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against ⁹⁵  this generation.

[20:5]  ¹ tn The combination of these two verbs customarily refers to the worship of pagan deities (e.g., Deut 17:3: 30:17; Jer 8:2; see J. J. Stamm and M. E. Andrew, The Ten Commandments in Recent Research [SBT], 86). The first verb is לאֹ־תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה (lo’ tishtakhaveh), now to be classified as a hishtaphel imperfect from חָוָה (khavah; BDB 1005 s.v. שׁחה), “to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” It is used of the true worship of God as well. The second verb is וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם (vÿlo’ to’ovdem). The two could be taken as a hendiadys: “you will not prostrate yourself to serve them.” In an interesting side comment U. Cassuto (Exodus, 242) offers an explanation of the spelling of the second verb: he suggests that it was spelled with the qamets khatuf vowel to show contempt for pagan worship, as if their conduct does not even warrant a correct spelling of the word “serve.” Gesenius says that the forms like this are anomalous, but he wonders if they were pointed as if the verb was a Hophal with the meaning “you shall not allow yourself to be brought to worship them” (GKC 161 §60.b). But this is unlikely.

[20:5]  ² sn The word “jealous” is the same word often translated “zeal” or “zealous.” The word describes a passionate intensity to protect or defend something that is jeopardized. The word can also have the sense of “envy,” but in that case the object is out of bounds. God’s zeal or jealousy is to protect his people or his institutions or his honor. Yahweh’s honor is bound up with the life of his people.

[20:5]  ³ tn Verses 5 and 6 are very concise, and the word פָּקַד (paqad) is difficult to translate. Often rendered “visiting,” it might here be rendered “dealing with” in a negative sense or “punishing,” but it describes positive attention in 13:19. When used of God, it essentially means that God intervenes in the lives of people for blessing or for cursing. Some would simply translate the participle here as “punishing” the children for the sins of the fathers (cf. Lev 18:25; Isa 26:21; Jer 29:32; 36:31; Hos 1:4; Amos 3:2). That is workable, but may not say enough. The verse may indicate that those who hate Yahweh and do not keep his commandments will repeat the sins their fathers committed and suffer for them. Deut 24:16 says that individuals will die for their own sins and not their father’s sins (see also Deut 7:10 and Ezek 18). It may have more to do with patterns of sin being repeated from generation to generation; if the sin and the guilt were not fully developed in the one generation, then left unchecked they would develop and continue in the next. But it may also indicate that the effects of the sins of the fathers will be experienced in the following generations, especially in the case of Israel as a national entity (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 243). God is showing here that his ethical character is displayed in how he deals with sin and righteousness, all of which he describes as giving strong motivation for loyalty to him and for avoiding idolatry. There is a justice at work in the dealings of God that is not present in the pagan world.

[20:5]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word for “generations” is not found in v. 5 or 6. The numbers are short for a longer expression, which is understood as part of the description of the children already mentioned (see Deut 7:9, where “generation” [דּוֹר, dor] is present and more necessary, since “children” have not been mentioned).

[20:5]  ⁵ tn This is an important qualification to the principle. The word rendered “reject” is often translated “hate” and carries with it the idea of defiantly rejecting and opposing God and his word. Such people are doomed to carry on the sins of their ancestors and bear guilt with them.

[26:39]  ⁶ tn Heb “in” (so KJV, ASV; also later in this verse).

[26:39]  ⁷ tn Heb “fathers’” (also in the following verse).

[26:40]  ⁸ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

[26:40]  ⁹ tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

[26:40]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

[26:40]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with me.”

[106:6]  ¹² tn Heb “with.”

[106:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 7).

[106:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Reed Sea” (also in vv. 9, 22). “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See the note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

[106:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[106:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “rebuked.”

[106:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[106:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “redeemed.”

[106:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “hand.”

[106:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “remained.”

[106:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “his words.”

[106:13]  ²² tn Heb “his works.”

[106:13]  ²³ tn Heb “his counsel.”

[106:14]  ²⁴ sn They had an insatiable craving. This is described in Num 11:4-35.

[106:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they craved [with] a craving.”

[106:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they tested God.”

[106:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he sent leanness into their being.”

[106:16]  ²⁸ tn Or “envied.”

[106:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the holy one of the Lord.”

[106:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “covered.”

[106:17]  ³¹ tn Or “the assembly of Abiram.”

[106:18]  ³² sn Verses 16-18 describe the events of Num 16:1-40.

[106:20]  ³³ tn Heb “their glory.” According to an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition, the text originally read “his glory” or “my glory.” In Jer 2:11 the Lord states that his people (Israel) exchanged “their glory” (a reference to the Lord) for worthless idols.

[106:21]  ³⁴ tn Heb “forgot.”

[106:22]  ³⁵ tn Or “awe-inspiring.”

[106:23]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and he said.”

[106:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

[106:23]  ³⁸ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

[106:23]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”

[106:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “a land of delight” (see also Jer 3:19; Zech 7:14).

[106:24]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “his word.”

[106:25]  ⁴² sn They grumbled in their tents. See Deut 1:27.

[106:25]  ⁴³ tn Heb “did not listen to the voice of.”

[106:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and he lifted his hand to [or “concerning”] them.” The idiom “to lift a hand” here refers to swearing an oath. One would sometimes solemnly lift one’s hand when making such a vow (see Ezek 20:5-6, 15).

[106:26]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “to cause them to fall.”

[106:27]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[106:27]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and to cause their offspring to fall.” Some emend the verb to “scatter” to form tighter parallelism with the following line (cf. NRSV “disperse”).

[106:27]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “among the lands.” The word “foreign” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[106:28]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “joined themselves to.”

[106:28]  ⁵⁰ tn Here “the dead” may refer to deceased ancestors (see Deut 26:14). Another option is to understand the term as a derogatory reference to the various deities which the Israelites worshiped at Peor along with Baal (see Num 25:2 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 49).

[106:29]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “They made angry [him].” The pronominal suffix is omitted here, but does appear in a few medieval Hebrew mss. Perhaps it was accidentally left off, an original וַיַּכְעִיסוּהוּ (vayyakh’isuhu) being misread as וַיַּכְעִיסוּ (vayyakh’isu). In the translation the referent of the pronominal suffix (the Lord) has been specified for clarity to avoid confusion with Baal of Peor (mentioned in the previous verse).

[106:30]  ⁵² sn The intervention of Phinehas is recounted in Num 25:7-8.

[106:31]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to a generation and a generation forever.” The verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon”) is collocated with צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) only in Ps 106:31 and Gen 15:6, where God rewards Abram’s faith with a land grant.

[106:32]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “there was harm to Moses.”

[106:33]  ⁵⁵ tn The Hebrew text vocalizes the form as הִמְרוּ (himru), a Hiphil from מָרָה (marah, “to behave rebelliously”), but the verb fits better with the object (“his spirit”) if it is revocalized as הֵמֵרוּ (hemeru), a Hiphil from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”). The Israelites “embittered” Moses’ “spirit” in the sense that they aroused his temper with their complaints.

[106:33]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[106:33]  ⁵⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds “with his lips,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[106:34]  ⁵⁸ tn That is, the nations of Canaan.

[106:35]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “their deeds.”

[106:36]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “served.”

[106:36]  ⁶¹ sn Became a snare. See Exod 23:33; Judg 2:3.

[106:37]  ⁶² tn The Hebrew term שֵׁדִים (shedim, “demons”) occurs only here and in Deut 32:17. Some type of lesser deity is probably in view.

[106:38]  ⁶³ sn Num 35:33-34 explains that bloodshed defiles a land.

[106:39]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “and they committed adultery in their actions.” This means that they were unfaithful to the Lord (see Ps 73:27).

[106:40]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord burned against his people.”

[106:40]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “his inheritance.”

[106:41]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “gave them into the hand of.”

[106:42]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “they were subdued under their hand.”

[106:43]  ⁶⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“he would deliver”).

[106:43]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “but they rebelled in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“they would have a rebellious attitude”).

[106:43]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “they sank down.” The Hebrew verb מָכַךְ (makhakh, “to lower; to sink”) occurs only here in the Qal.

[106:45]  ⁷² tn The Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) refers here to God relenting from a punishment already underway.

[106:46]  ⁷³ tn Or “captors.”

[106:47]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “to give thanks.” The infinitive construct indicates result after the imperative.

[106:47]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “to boast in your praise.”

[106:48]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.

[106:48]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “from everlasting to everlasting.”

[106:48]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “surely” (אָמֵן, ’amen), traditionally transliterated “amen.”

[106:48]  ⁷⁹ sn The final verse (v. 48) is a conclusion to this fourth “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the first, second and third “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52, respectively).

[11:47]  ⁸⁰ sn The effect of what the experts in the law were doing was to deny the message of the prophets and thus honor their death by supporting those who had sought their removal. The charge that this is what previous generations did shows the problem is chronic. As T. W. Manson said, the charge here is “The only prophet you honor is a dead prophet!” (The Sayings of Jesus, 101).

[11:47]  ⁸¹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[11:48]  ⁸² tn Grk “you are witnesses and approve of.”

[11:48]  ⁸³ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[11:48]  ⁸⁴ tn Grk “them”; the referent (the prophets) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:48]  ⁸⁵ tn “Their,” i.e., the prophets.

[11:48]  ⁸⁶ tc The majority of mss list a specific object (“their tombs”), filling out the sentence (although there are two different words for “tombs” among the mss, as well as different word orders: αὐτῶν τὰ μνημεῖα (autwn ta mnhmeia; found in A C W Θ Ψ 33 Ï) and τοὺς τάφους αὐτῶν (tou" tafou" autwn; found in Ë^1,[13] 2542 pc). This suggests that early copyists had no term in front of them but felt the verb needed an object. But since a wide distribution of early Alexandrian and Western mss lack these words (Ì⁷⁵ א B D L 579 1241 it sa), it is likely that they were not part of the original text of Luke. Nevertheless, the words “their tombs” are inserted in the translation because of requirements of English style.

[11:49]  ⁸⁷ sn The expression the wisdom of God is a personification of an attribute of God that refers to his wise will.

[11:50]  ⁸⁸ tn Or “that this generation may be charged with”; or “the blood of all the prophets… may be required from this generation.” This is a warning of judgment. These people are responsible for the shedding of prophetic blood.

[11:50]  ⁸⁹ tn Or “foundation.” However, this does not suggest a time to the modern reader.

[11:50]  ⁹⁰ tn The order of the clauses in this complicated sentence has been rearranged to simplify it for the modern reader.

[11:51]  ⁹¹ sn Gen 4:10 indicates that Abel’s blood cried out for justice.

[11:51]  ⁹² sn It is not clear which Zechariah is meant here. It is probably the person mentioned in 2 Chr 24:20-25.

[11:51]  ⁹³ tn Or “who perished.”

[11:51]  ⁹⁴ tn Or “and the temple”; Grk “and the house,” but in this context a reference to the house of God as a place of sanctuary.

[11:51]  ⁹⁵ tn Or “required from.”