May the Lord never forget the sins of his fathers; may his mother’s sins never be erased from the record.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh. Don’t let 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.
- BSB May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
- ESV May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
- NKJV Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
- NASB ¶May the guilt of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, And do not let the sin of his mother be wiped out.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David asks that the ancestral sins of the wicked man not be forgiven or forgotten before God. It calls for a full accounting of a family steeped in evil.
Overview
The plea assumes that the enemy's wickedness continued a pattern of generational rebellion against God. Rather than seeking personal revenge, David asks God to remember and judge rightly. The petition reflects the seriousness of sin's reach, even as the gospel offers a decisive end to its guilt for all who turn to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Exod 20:5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Neh 4:5don’t cover their iniquity, and don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”
- Jer 18:23Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you. Deal you with them in the time of your anger.
- Isa 43:25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
- 2 Kgs 9:27But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, “Strike him also in the chariot!” They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there.
- 2 Kgs 8:27He walked in the way of Ahab’s house, and did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, as did Ahab’s house; for he was the son-in-law of Ahab’s house.
- 2 Kgs 10:13–14Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, “Who are you?” They answered, “We are the brothers of Ahaziah. We are going down to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen.”
- Lev 26:39Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away with them.
- 2 Chr 22:3–4He also walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, because his mother was his counselor in acting wickedly.
- 2 Kgs 11:1Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring.
- Matt 23:31–36Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.
- 2 Sam 3:29Let it fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house. Let there not fail from the house of Joab one who has an issue, or who is a leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.”
- 2 Sam 21:8–9But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
- 2 Sam 21:1There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 109:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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