Identifying and Breaking Curses

Chapter Four 4 Sins of the Fathers

Thou showest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name. —Jeremiah 32:18 The above verse states that "the iniquity of the fathers" is recompensed "into the bosom of their children." To recompense means "to pay." In other words, what the parents do will affect their children. The Living Bible puts it, "You are loving and kind to thousands, yet children suffer for their fathers' sins." This truth is also stated in Exodus 20:5: For I the L ORD 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. The Torah says, "Upon the third and fourth generation of those who reject me." The prophet Hosea prophesied, Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:6) There is a relationship, then, between curses and the sins of the fathers. Sin affects not only those who commit it, but also the generations to come. This shows us the terrible consequences of sin. Sin is more than an isolated act. It can reverberate for generations to come. As we saw in chapter one, the word iniquity in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word avown, meaning "perversity." Sin is a perverting of that which is right. God's Word is right, and whenever we deviate from it, we are guilty of iniquity. To pervert means "to cause to turn aside or away from what is good or true or morally right." So the curse causeless shall not come. (Proverbs 26:2)

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