The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
The person who sins is the one who faces the consequences. A son doesn't get punished for his dad's mistakes, and a dad doesn't get punished for his son's choices. Good people get credit for their goodness, and people who do wrong own their wrongdoing.
You're responsible for your own choices, nobody else's mistakes are on you, and yours aren't on them.
📚 Historical Context
During the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC, the prophet Ezekiel addressed the exiled Israelites who were using a common proverb to blame their hardships on the sins of their ancestors, suggesting that the current generation was suffering unjustly for past wrongs. God, through Ezekiel, challenged this fatalistic view by emphasizing that each individual is accountable for their own actions, not the sins or righteousness of their family line. This teaching shifted the focus from collective guilt to personal responsibility in a society that often saw punishment as inherited.
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