109:14 May his ancestors’ 1 sins be remembered by the Lord!
May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! 2
109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, 3
and cut off the memory of his children 4 from the earth!
1 tn Or “fathers’ sins.”
2 tn Heb “not be wiped out.”
sn According to ancient Israelite theology and its doctrine of corporate solidarity and responsibility, children could be and often were punished for the sins of their parents. For a discussion of this issue see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). (Kaminsky, however, does not deal with Ps 109.)
3 tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the
4 tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.