The sins of the fathers

Posted by ESC on August 24, 2003

In Reply to: The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the sons posted by Henry on August 24, 2003

: : Hi everyone,
: : I'm looking for the origin of the phrase 'The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the sons.' I found a reference to 'The sins of the fathers' part in the old testament--Lamentations 5--but I can find no trace of the 'Shall be visited upon the sons' part.
: : I was hoping someone out there knows the origin of this entire phrase. Thanks in advance!

: Exodus Chapter 20
: You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me, and showing mercy to thousands of those that love Me and keep My commandments.

: Numbers 14
: The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation.

: Deuteronomy Chapter 5
: You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, and doing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

: Jeremiah Chapter 32
: Ah, Lord Jehovah! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and stretched out arm. Nothing is too great for You. You show loving-kindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them.

SINS OF THE FATHERS -- Euripides (c. 485-406 B.C.), Phrixus, fragment 970: "The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children."

Also: "For the sins of your fathers you, though guiltless, must suffer." - Horace, "Odes," III, 6, l. 1. "The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children." - Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice," act III, sc. V, l. 1

From Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, by John Barlett and Justin Kaplan, general editor (Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 2002).