Deuteronomy 24:16

Context

Deuteronomy is structured as a series of sermons in which Moses, on the plains of Moab east of the Jordan, expounds the law anew to the people of Israel as they prepare to enter Canaan. Chapter 24 gathers various laws governing community life, such as regulations on divorce, on pledges, and on paying a poor hired laborer his wages the same day. Verse 16, together with the regulation immediately following it that forbids perverting justice for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (v. 17), stands as a judicial principle intended to protect the vulnerable from unjust punishment. Because the Hebrew expression translated "put to death" is the one used in capital-punishment statutes, the verse is understood to address penalties imposed by human courts.

Interpretation

• Legal reading: Many commentators read the verse as a prohibition of collective punishment, in which an offender's family is held jointly liable for his crime. Some ancient Near Eastern law codes are known to have contained provisions punishing an offender's children in his place (for example, Code of Hammurabi §230). This verse is often cited as standing in contrast to such provisions.
• Application within the Old Testament: 2 Kings 14:6 and 2 Chronicles 25:4 record that Amaziah, king of Judah, executed the servants who had slain his father but did not put their children to death, citing this law as the basis for his action.
• Connection with the Prophets: Ezekiel 18:20, declaring that "the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father" (KJV), extends the same principle to God's own judgment. For this reason the two passages are read together as the principal texts on individual responsibility.

Debates and Issues

• Relationship to the Ten Commandments: Deuteronomy 5:9 and Exodus 20:5 state that God visits "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation" (KJV). How this statement fits with 24:16 is a long-standing question. Two explanations are common. One holds that 24:16 concerns human courts, whereas the Ten Commandments speak of God's governance. The other holds that, because the commandment includes the qualification "of them that hate me," it refers to descendants who continue in the sins of their ancestors.
• Tension with other passages: Commentators also discuss how to read this principle alongside Joshua 7, in which Achan's family is punished with him, and 2 Samuel 21, in which Saul's descendants are handed over.
• Relationship to the doctrine of original sin: The question is also raised whether the doctrine of original sin, which holds that Adam's sin affects all humanity, conflicts with the principle of individual responsibility. A common answer is that, since this verse is a regulation concerning judicial penalties, it operates on a different level from the doctrine of original sin.

In the Korean Church

The verse is frequently cited in the controversy over the generational curse theory, the claim that ancestors' sins are passed down to their descendants as curses. Critics, appealing to this verse and to Ezekiel 18, counter that each person is judged for his or her own sin. Proponents chiefly point to Exodus 20:5. The verse is also sometimes mentioned in writings and sermons dealing with guilt by association (yeonjwaje), the practice of holding family members jointly responsible for an individual's offense.

Related Passages

• 2 Kings 14:6
• Ezekiel 18:20
• Jeremiah 31:29-30
• Deuteronomy 5:9