Exodus 34:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 34:7
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
to guard · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
mercy
חֶ֙סֶד֙che.sed
H2617
kindness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
thousands
לָאֲלָפִ֔יםla.'a.la.Fim
H505
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alph… · preposition with the article + cardinal number, both genders plural absolute
forgiving
נֹשֵׂ֥אno.Se'
H5375
to lift · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
iniquity
עָוֹ֛ן'a.Von
H5771
perversity · noun, common masculine singular absolute
transgression
וָפֶ֖שַׁעva.Fe.sha'
H6588
a revolt (national · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sin
וְחַטָּאָ֑הve.cha.ta.'Ah
H2403
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
means
וְנַקֵּה֙ve.na.Keh
H5352
to be (or make) clean (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, piel infinitive absolute
clear
יְנַקֶּ֔הye.na.Keh
H5352
to be (or make) clean (literally or figuratively) · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
visiting
פֹּקֵ֣דpo.Ked
H6485
to visit (with friendly or hostile intent) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
iniquity
עֲוֹ֣ן'a.Von
H5771
perversity · noun, common masculine singular construct
fathers
אָב֗וֹת'a.Vot
H1
father · noun, common feminine plural absolute
children
בָּנִים֙ba.Nim
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
children’s
בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
third
שִׁלֵּשִׁ֖יםshi.le.Shim
H8029
a descendant of the third degree · noun, common masculine plural absolute
fourth
רִבֵּעִֽיםri.be.'Im
H7256
a descendant of the fourth generation · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 20:5-6 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon…
Psalms 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Deuteronomy 5:9-10 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upo…
Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Nahum 1:2-3 God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reservet…
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Numbers 14:18-23 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniqu…
Jeremiah 32:18 Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Gr…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 34:5-9
No sooner had Moses got to the top of the mount than God gave him the meeting (Exo 34:5): The Lord descended, by some sensible token of his presence, and manifestation of his glory. His descending bespeaks his condescension; he humbles himself to take cognizance of those that humble themselves to walk with him. Psa 113:6, Lord, what is man, that he should be thus visited? He descended in the cloud, probably that pillar of cloud which had hitherto gone before Israel, and had the day before met Moses at the door of the tabernacle. This cloud was to strike an awe upon Moses, that the familiarity he was admitted to might not breed contempt. The disciples feared, when they entered the cloud. His…
the Lord passed by before him--in this remarkable scene, God performed what He had promised to Moses the day before.
proclaimed, The Lord . . . merciful and gracious--At an earlier period He had announced Himself to Moses, in the glory of His self-existent and eternal majesty, as "I am" [Exo 3:14]; now He makes Himself known in the glory of His grace and goodness--attributes that were to be illustriously displayed in the future history and experience of the church. Being about to republish His law--the sin of the Israelites being forgiven and the deed of pardon about to be signed and sealed by renewing the terms of the former covenant--it was the most fitting time to proclaim the extent of…
That will by no means clear the guilty - This last clause is rather difficult; literally translated it signifies, in clearing he will not clear. But the Samaritan, reading לו lo, to him, instead of the negative לא lo, not, renders the clause thus: With whom the innocent shall be innocent; i.e., an innocent or holy person shall never be treated as if he were a transgressor, by this just and holy God. The Arabic version has it, He justifies and is not justified; and the Septuagint is nearly as our English text, και ου καθαριει τον ενοχον, and he doth not purify the guilty. The Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint, edited by Dr. Grabe, has και τον ενοχον καθαρισμῳ ου καθαριει, and the guilty he…
The Church Fathers
What does the phrase say that the Lord will not purify the accused, but will not declare him innocent?
What does it mean that the Lord now says through Moses, "You visit the iniquity of fathers on their sons and grandsons"? In these two passages a different sense is found, but the mind of the hearer is taught to inquire subtly along the path of discernment. We inherit original sin from our parents, and unless we are washed by the grace of baptism, we bear even our parents' sins, because up to that point we are one with them. So God will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their sons, for, through original sin, the soul of the offspring is stained by the guilt of the parent. But then God does not visit the iniquity of fathers on their sons, because, when we are freed from original guilt through baptism, we no longer have our parents' guilt but only the guilt for sins we ourselves committed. This passage can also be understood in another way, because when each one imitates the iniquity of his sinful parent, he is rendered guilty through his parent's fault. But whoever does not imitate the iniquity of his parent is not burdened with his sin. Thus it happens that the sinful son of a sinful father pays the penalty not only for his own sins, which he committed, but also for his father's sins. For he does not fear to add his own malice to his father's vices, even though he knows that the Lord is angered by them. It is just that a man who does not fear to imitate the ways of his wicked father before a busy judge is forced in this present life to pay the penalty for the faults of his wicked father. So Scripture says, "The soul of my father is mine; … the soul that sins, that one will die." For in the flesh sons sometimes perish for their father's sin. But when the original sin that comes from the parents' iniquity is forgiven, it is no longer kept in the soul. What does it mean that small children are often snatched away by demons, unless the son's flesh suffers to punish the father? For the wicked father is struck at in his very self and refuses to sense the force of the blow. Generally he is struck in his sons, so that he burns painfully, and the father's sorrow is visited on the son's flesh, insofar as the father's evil heart is punished by the son's suffering. But when the sons who are punished for their fathers' guilt are not little children but already grown, what else should we understand except that they are suffering the punishments of those people whose…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Atonement — This word does not occur in the Authorized Version of the New Testament except in Rom. 5:11, where in the Revised Version the word “reconciliation” is used. In the Old Testament it is of frequent…
God — (A.S. and Dutch God; Dan. Gud; Ger. Gott), the name of the Divine Being. It is the rendering (1) of the Hebrew ’El, from a word meaning to be strong; (2) of ’Eloah_, plural _’Elohim. The singular…
Mercy — Compassion for the miserable. Its object is misery. By the atoning sacrifice of Christ a way is open for the exercise of mercy towards the sons of men, in harmony with the demands of truth and…
Moses — Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, “son;” hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years…
Access To God · Exemplified: Moses — Exemplified: Moses
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · God’s glory shown to Moses — God’s glory shown to Moses
Glory Of God, The · Exhibited to: Moses — Exhibited to: Moses
God · Is declared to be: Merciful — Is declared to be: Merciful
Heredity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Mercy Of God, The · Is part of his character — Is part of his character
Pardon · Exhibits the: Mercy of God — Exhibits the: Mercy of God
Keeping mercy for thousands,.... In his own heart, in his purposes and decrees, in his counsels and covenant, in his Son, with whom he keeps it for ever, and for all in him, Psalm 89:28 and they are many who are ordained to eternal life, for whom Christ gave his life a ransom, and for whom his blood was shed for the remission of their sins; and whom he justifies by his knowledge, and at last brings to glory as the great Captain of their salvation; these are even a number which no man can number. All the Targums render it to a thousand generations; and Jarchi interprets of two thousand generations. The first letter in the word, rendered "keeping", is longer than is usual, in the Hebrew text;…
Exodus 34:1-10, 27-35
1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
1. Et ait Jehova ad Mosen, Dola tibi duas tabulas instar priorum: et scribam in his tabulis verba quae fuerunt in tabulis prioribus quas fregisti.
2. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.
2. Esto ergo paratus mane, et ascende mane montem Sinai: stesque mihi illic super verticem ipsius montis.
3. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let t…
When Moses had restored the covenant bond through his intercession (Exo 33:14), he was directed by Jehovah to hew out two stones, like the former ones which he had broken, and to come with them the next morning up the mountain, and Jehovah would write upon them the same words as upon the first,
(Note: Namely, the ten words in Ex 20:2-17, not the laws contained in Exo 34:12-26 of this chapter, as Gthe and Hitzig suppose. See Hengstenberg, Dissertations ii. p. 319, and Kurtz on the Old Covenant iii. 182ff.)
and thus restore the covenant record. It was also commanded, as in the former case (Exo 19:12-13), that no one should go up the mountain with him, or be seen upon it, and that not even cat…
God’s unfailing love and his generous desire to forgive are not weakness or indecisiveness, nor are they reason to sin. Sin will have its effects, because God created a world of cause and effect. The murderer may repent, be forgiven, and lead a new life, but the effects of previous choices will continue to play out. We should not sin just because we know that God will forgive (see study note on 20:5-6). • a thousand generations: See Deut 7:9-11. • I lay the sins of the parents: Our sins affect future generations of descendants, but God restricts the natural effect of those sins to three or four generations. See also Exod 20:5-6.
Rashi on Exodus 34:7
נצר חסד means God keeps (stores up) the mercy which a person does in His presence,
לאלפים TO THOUSANDS — to two thousand generations (the plural, “generations”, and “two” is the least that this can imply; cf. Rashi on Exodus 20:6).
עונות — These are sins committed presumptuously (with premeditation). פשעים — These are sins committed rebelliously.
ונקה לא ינקה AND WHO WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY — According to its plain sense this means that He is not altogether indulgent to sin (He does not entirely remit the punishment), but little by little exacts punishment from, him (the sinner). Our Rabbis, however, have explained: ונקה, And he clears — He clears those who repent, לא ינקה, He d…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
