1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Deuteronomy 24:16

*The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers, but every one shall die for his own sin.

4 Kings 14:6.; 2 Paralipomenon 25:4.; Ezechiel 18:20.

Sin. Judges have no right to punish any but those who have transgressed. (Calmet) --- God may for reasons known to himself, which cannot be unjust, visit the sins of the fathers upon their children; (Exodus 20:5) and hence, (Josue vii.) he ordered the family of Achan to be involved in his punishment. Temporal sufferings, or death itself, are not however always a misfortune. They frequently prove a source of inconceivable blessings, Romans 5:3. (Haydock) --- The Rabbins understand, that fathers and children are not to be received as witnesses against each other, (Onkelos) which seems foreign to the sense of the present law. (Calmet)