דברים, פרק ה׳, פסוק ט׳

The absolute prohibition of idolatry carries a severe warning about the consequences of betraying the divine covenant. God demands absolute exclusivity and does not tolerate sharing His worship with any other entity, acting with strict jealousy over this devotion [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This intense demand for loyalty is closely linked to the subsequent prohibition against swearing falsely. The immediate sequence of these laws teaches that the act of making a false oath is treated with the exact same severity as the sin of idolatry itself [קיצור בעל הטורים].

As part of this strict standard, God remembers the sins and crimes of the ancestors [ביאור שטיינזלץ, אוהב גר]. This memory and its resulting punishment extend beyond the original wrongdoers, reaching down to the third and fourth generations, specifically the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. However, the fate of these descendants is not blindly sealed. They face punishment only on the condition that they actively continue to embrace the corrupt deeds of their ancestors and walk in their evil path [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

A subtle yet significant detail emerges when comparing this account of the Ten Commandments to the earlier version recorded in the book of Exodus. A minor textual addition before the mention of the third generation sparks a deeper discussion about the continuity of sin [מנחת שי, צפנת פענח]. This detail addresses a complex scenario where the chain of wrongdoing is broken: a son chooses not to follow his father's evil path, but the grandson later returns to those same sins. The resulting question is whether God still connects the grandfather's original guilt to the grandson even when the direct generational sequence of the wrongdoing was temporarily interrupted [צפנת פענח].