‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 18. Mercy. Septuagint “merciful and true,” as Exod. 34:6. 7. On that occasion, it is not written that God swore. Bible.—But equal credit is to be given to his word, as to an oath. Menochius.—Clear, or, as S. Jerom expresses it in Exodus, and no man of himself is innocent before thee. Calmet.—By these titles God will be addressed; and therefore Moses mentions them all, though some of them might seem to obstruct his petition of pardon. Menochius.—He knew that none of God’s perfections were contrary to one another, or to his nature of consummate goodness; and he sued for the pardon of his people, with all due submission to the dictates of his justice. Bible.