Exodus 34:6-7
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands,[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

This beautiful passage describes God’s character and that he is gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. What an awesome and magnificent God we serve. It tells us that by no means will He clear the guilty; he is a just God. The last part seems to imply that he will punish children and their children for the father’s sin. But if we do a bit more investigating, we will realise that this is not exactly what it’s saying.

Exodus 20:5-6 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: 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; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:5-6 gives us more details on this issue. It says that God will punish the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate him. And it says that he will show mercy to all that love Him. So it’s not that He will punish one for his father’s sin, but he will punish every generation that hates him. So when we read that one verse, we can go away with the wrong meaning, and this is why it’s important to study and search the bible for all the occurrences of an ssue.

Additionally, the bible tells us that fathers will not have to pay for the sins of their children and vice versa.

Deuteronomy 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

What a good God we serve that he is just, and even when we see things that we don’t understand, I think it’s important to come to that place where we can trust that God is good and he knows why, and maybe one day all will make sense to us.