⁹ You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

^4 (A)“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ^5 (B)You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am ^(C)a jealous God, ^(D)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands^[a] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

^7 (A)keeping steadfast love for thousands,^{[a] (B)}forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but ^(C)who will by no means clear the guilty, ^(D)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and ^(A)made confession, saying, ^(B)“O Lord, the ^(C)great and awesome God, who ^(D)keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ^5 (E)we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly ^(F)and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. ^6 (G)We have not listened to ^(H)your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to ^(I)our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ To you, ^(J)O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, ^(K)those who are near and ^(L)those who are far away, in ^(M)all the lands to which you have driven them, because of ^(N)the treachery that they have committed against you. ⁸ To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because ^(O)we have sinned against you. ^9 (P)To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him

¹⁴ (for ^(A)you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),

^18 (A)‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, ^(B)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’

³⁵ so that on you may come all ^(A)the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^(B)Abel to the blood of ^(C)Zechariah the son of Barachiah,^[a] whom you murdered between ^(D)the sanctuary and ^(E)the altar. ³⁶ Truly, I say to you, ^(F)all these things will come upon this generation.

^18 (A)You show steadfast love to thousands, ^(B)but you repay the guilt of fathers ^(C)to their children after them, O great and ^(D)mighty God, whose name is the ^(E)Lord of hosts,

²⁸ As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are ^(A)beloved for the sake of their forefathers. ²⁹ For the gifts and ^(B)the calling of God are irrevocable.