Sins of the fathers

The meaning of the complete expression is that descendants are very often blamed for the sins of their forebears and the concept is very old. Euripides (485-406 BC) wrote, “Visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.” It also appears in the Bible Exodus 20:5 has, “For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”