Return to the LORD Your God...

Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,

    but tear your hearts instead.”

Return to the Lord your God,

    for He is merciful and compassionate,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

    He is eager to relent and not punish. 

~ Joel 2:13 (NLT)

Slow to Anger

‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ 
~ Numbers 14:18 (NIV)

Keep His Commands

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. ~ Exodus 20:4-6 (NIV 1984)

God's Will

3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NIV 1984)

Discipline of Children

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.

~ Proverbs 23:13-14