### [[Exo 20#5]]-6 > You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, **visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children** to the **third and fourth generations** of **those who hate Me**, > but showing **loving devotion to a thousand generations** of **those who love Me** and keep My commandments. This passage has been a stumbling block when misinterpreted as if it implies that Yahweh punishes future generations for the sins of previous generations or shows favoritism to future generations for the faithfulness of previous generations. However, this declaration is restated in [[Exo 34#6]]-7 > Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, > maintaining **loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin**. Yet He will by no means leave **the guilty** unpunished; He will **visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren** to the **third and fourth generations**.” Yahweh shows loving devotion excessively (to a **thousand generations**) to those who love him - even though their love includes iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yahweh's loving devotion includes compassion, graciousness, slowness to anger, and faithfulness - all present in forgiveness. Yet he will still punish the **guilty**. He does not punish innocent children of guilty parents. He punishes the guilty. And he is faithful to do so consistently like a loving father disciplining his child even though the habit is recurring. In this case, each generation is repeating the iniquity of the previous. So Yahweh will address each generation in turn. This is a demonstration of justice through the mercy of discipline. It would be a simpler form of justice to destroy the guilty and prevent them from having children at all. Yet the guilty are clearly still blessed to fruitfully multiply as all of the family of humankind. The phrase "**third and fourth**" refers to the idiom of the uncounted pattern. See my write-up: [[Hefner - Three Four]].