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Selected Verse: Deuteronomy 24:16 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| De 24:16 |
King James |
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| The fathers shall not be put to death for the children--The rule was addressed for the guidance of magistrates, and it established the equitable principle that none should be responsible for the crimes of others. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| A caution addressed to earthly judges. Among other Oriental nations the family of a criminal was commonly involved in his punishment (compare Est 9:13-14). In Israel it was not to be so; compare marginal references. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| Warning against Injustice. - Deu 24:16. Fathers were not to be put to death upon (along with) their sons, nor sons upon (along with) their fathers, i.e., they were not to suffer the punishment of death with them for crimes in which they had no share; but every one was to be punished simply for his own sin. This command was important, to prevent an unwarrantable and abusive application of the law which is manifest in the movements of divine justice to the criminal jurisprudence of the lane (Exo 20:5), since it was a common thing among the heathen nations - e.g., the Persians, Macedonians, and others - for the children and families of criminals to be also put to death (cf. Est 9:13-14; Herod. iii. 19; Ammian Marcell. xxiii. 6; Curtius, vi. 11, 20, etc.). An example of the carrying out of this law is to be found in Kg2 14:6; Ch2 25:4. In Deu 24:17, Deu 24:18, the law against perverting the right of strangers, orphans, and widows, is repeated from Exo 22:20-21, and Exo 23:9; and an addition is made, namely, that they were not to take a widow's raiment in pledge (cf. Lev 19:33-34). |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Not put to death - If the one be free from the guilt of the others sin, except in those cases where the sovereign Lord of life and death, before whom none is innocent, hath commanded it, as Deu. 13:1-18; Jos 7:24. For though God do visit the father's sins upon the children, Exo 20:5, yet he will not suffer men to do so. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, etc. - This law is explained and illustrated in sufficient detail, Ezekiel 18. |
13 Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
14 And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
5 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 the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.