Psalms 109:14
in Psalms 109May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with Jehovah; And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
KJV
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
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This verse in Psalms 109
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis verse is, perhaps, the most terrible of all, but yet as a matter of fact children do procure punishment upon their parents' sins, and are often themselves the means of such punishment. A bad son brings to mind his father's bad points of character; people say, "Ah, he is like the old man. He takes after his father." A mother's sins also will be sure to be called to mind if her daughter becomes grossly wicked. "Ah", they will say, "there is little wonder, when you consider what her mother was." These are matters of everyday occurrence.
This site's exposition
the iniquity of his fathers
on Psalms 109:14-16
The request reaches back a generation, the iniquity of his fathers remembered and the sin of his mother never blotted out. Verse 15 asks that their sins stay before the LORD, and verse 16 names the ground, a man who hunted the poor to death. He had never shown kindness.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Let them always be against the Lord" [Psalm 109:14]. "Against the Lord," means in the Lord's sight: for other translators have rendered this line, "let them be always in the sight of the Lord;" while others have rendered it, "let them be before the Lord always;" as it is elsewhere said, "You have set our misdeeds in Your sight." By "alway," he means that this great crime should be without pardon, both here, and in a future life. "Let the memorial of them perish from off the earth:" that is, of his father and of his mother. By memorial of them, he means, that which is preserved by successive generations: this he prophesied should perish from the earth, because both Judas himself, and his sons, who were the memorial of his father and mother, without any succeeding offspring, as it is said above, were consumed in the short space of one generation.. ..
Let the iniquity of his fathers come into remembrance in the sight of the Lord. They sinned in the desert, he forgave them: now he reckons against them what they sinned then, since they have crucified the Lord. Or let us interpret it otherwise. He reckons against them the cruelty of their murders, and forgives them nothing. And let the sin of his mother not be blotted out. Who is the mother of Judas? Jerusalem, who rejoices in blood, who slew the prophets and her own Lord himself.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
To justify the imprecations of vengeance upon the sinner himself, his own sin is here charged upon him, which called aloud for it. (1.) He had loved cruelty, and therefore give him blood to drink (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
This verse is, perhaps, the most terrible of all, but yet as a matter of fact children do procure punishment upon their parents' sins, and are often themselves the means of such punishment. A bad son brings to mind his father's bad points of character; people say, "Ah, he is like the old man. He takes after his father." A mother's sins also will be sure to be called to mind if her daughter becomes grossly wicked. "Ah", they will say, "there is little wonder, when you consider what her mother was." These are matters of everyday occurrence. We cannot, however, pretend to explain the righteousness of this malediction, though we fully believe in it. We leave it till our heavenly Father is pleased to give us further instruction. Yet, as a man's faults are often learned from his parents, it is not unjust that his consequent crimes should recoil upon him.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Let the iniquity of his fathers - Of his ancestors. Be remembered with the Lord - Or, by the Lord. The doctrine of the Bible is, that God “visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate” him Exo 20:5; the matter of fact is that children and children’s children often suffer from the errors, the crimes, and the follies of their parents, as in the case of intemperance, murder, and treason (compare the notes at Rom 5:12 ff); and the prayer here is, that this regular effect of sin might follow in this instance; that these consequences might not be arrested by divine interposition. And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out - This is probably added to complete the parallelism; the sin of his father and his mother. There may, however, if this is a composition of David, be a similar allusion to that which occurs in Psa 51:5, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” The prayer is, that whatever effects might properly follow from the fact that his mother was a sinner - either in some special sense, or in the general sense that all are sinhers - might come upon him.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
the iniquity against his forefathers The iniquity that he sinned against his forebears, to Abraham, whose life he shortened by five years, and to his father he caused blindness.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִזָּכֵ֤ר׀ | yizakher | may it be remembered | H2142 → | 230 times |
| עֲוֹ֣ן | ʾavon | [the] iniquity of | H5771 → | 233 times |
| אֲ֭בֹתָיו | ʾavotav | ancestors his | H1 → | 1212 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְחַטַּ֥את | vechatat | and [the] sin of | H2403 → | 295 times |
| אִ֝מּ֗וֹ | ʾimo | mother his | H517 → | 220 times |
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תִּמָּֽח׃ | timach | it be wiped out | H4229 → | 36 times |
יִזָּכֵ֤ר׀may it be remembered
yizakherH2142 →230 times
עֲוֹ֣ן[the] iniquity of
ʾavonH5771 →233 times
אֲ֭בֹתָיוancestors his
ʾavotavH1 →1212 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְחַטַּ֥אתand [the] sin of
vechatatH2403 →295 times
אִ֝מּ֗וֹmother his
ʾimoH517 →220 times
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תִּמָּֽח׃it be wiped out
timachH4229 →36 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 20:5You 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…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 5:9
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…
- Numbers 14:18
‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon…
- Deuteronomy 4:24
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
- Exodus 34:14
For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
- Joshua 24:19
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
- Deuteronomy 5:9
Through
Nehemiah 4:5Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked the builders.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 18:23
But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them…
- Jeremiah 18:23
Through
2 Kings 9:27When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur,…
it leads to
- Judges 1:27
At that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land.
- Judges 1:27
Through
Leviticus 26:39Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 4:17
So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.
- Ezekiel 4:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
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About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 109; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Jerome, Homily 35, on Psalm 108; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.