Our God is a God of order. Psalm 89:14 says that righteousness and justice are the very foundation of His heavenly throne. This means that all He does must be based in what is right and just. While some of us may look at this through fearful eyes, this is actually great news. It means God is and always will be dependable and trustworthy. If this is the case, why did God seem so over-the-top angry in the Old Testament? Why did He seemingly curse not only wrongdoers, but the generations that followed them as well? Did these “curses” of God work the same way the curses of our day are said to work? Were they a wishing of evil upon someone or something? Did God give anyone the authority to curse others?

The idea of a generational curse can be daunting. From the sound of it, somebody does something deemed bad or evil and the response to that action is to strike their children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren and so on with some dark and even sinister retaliation. Such treatment reeks of injustice, revenge and nastiness. The problem here is that in the Old Testament, God has pronounced generational consequences, but they are often interpreted as generational curses. There is a massive difference between the two. Such a gross misinterpretation of Scripture results in a serious misunderstanding of God’s character.

How do we know God isn’t cursing generations of people for what they didn’t do? It all comes down to understanding what curses mean in the Bible, beginning in the Old Testament. See the Additonal Resources below for more. This is no easy task. In the Old Testament alone there are over a dozen words that are translated “curse.” To really know what the Jewish Scriptures teach, we need to gain a comprehensive understanding of who cursed what, to what end result and what it really meant.

Those who believe generational curses are happening today often bring up Exodus 20:4-5: (NASB) 4You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.

“Of those who hate me” – in other words, if you disobey My Law in relation to idolatry, then evil and punishment will follow. There is no halfway with an idol. They could not say, “I love both God and the goddess Diana.” For that matter, we cannot say “I love God, and I love (anything of self-interest – money, power, etc.).” This is a specific part of the Commandments.   

This “third and fourth generation iniquity” is mentioned on three occasions:

1. At the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:4-6 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5:8-10; the same event recorded in a different book of the Bible.

2. God repeated this generational iniquity to Moses in Exodus 34:7 when Moses went back up the mountain to replace the broken tablets of the Law.

3. Moses repeated it as he pleaded with God as Israel faithlessly rejected entering the Land of Canaan (Numbers 14:18).  

This is not a curse; it is simply a consequence for disobedience – you disobey Me and that disloyalty will fester and grow for generations. It is basically the same context of the Law of Israel repeated three times – not three separate instances throughout the Bible. Whenever Israel stopped being idolatrous, the “hedge of protection” they enjoyed was put back and they were again blessed.  

Reading this out of context loses the full meaning of the consequences of moving away from God’s laws. By disobeying laws set up in their best interests, the Israelites’ bad choices were reflected down on their offspring resulting in suffering to the third or fourth generations. Not because God afflicted them – they afflicted themselves – and God withdrew His protection. It is wrong to pull this out of context and apply it to generational sins for the Christian or even the rest of the world at this time.

The punishment on the third and fourth generation was at a specific time for a specific people for a specific purpose. We know God forgives our sins when we ask in the name of Jesus. We are to live a repentant life where we do not have to look back through our lineage in fear.

God “curses” when He pronounces a logical punishment or consequence for sin or disloyalty. The outworking of that sin and the influence we all have on our children and grandchildren causes the effects of the sin and consequent separation from God to naturally be visited on the second and third, possibly even the fourth and more generations, depending on whether these further descendants follow the practices of their ancestors. The beauty of God’s curses is that He sets the whole process in motion and lets man use free to will to choose. We cause our own punishment by separating ourselves from God’s loving and merciful provisions.

Additional Resources:
Christian Questions 3-Part Curses Series
and specifically
Episode #1196: “Am I Living Under a Generational Curse? Curses Series (Part II)”
Curses in family bloodlines and the bigger context of Old Testament curses
Preview Video
CQ Rewind Show Notes