III. Justice against those who are impenitent. The summary is that God is utterly righteous and impartial. Therefore, He says: ינקה לא ינקה [yenakkeh lo yenakkeh]. There are almost as many opinions as heads in the translating and interpreting of these words. I will say what I think briefly. Literally, the phrase is rendered (as our annotators suggest in the margin[1]): And in absolving, He will not (meaning: He must not) absolve. That is, He must not absolve one who is impenitent, or: In forbearing, He will not forbear. This is also how the Jerusalem paraphrase[2] takes it, as Fagius notes and demonstrates. The meaning is: And He will not absolve the guilty, that is, the obstinate and impenitent. It is as though He said: Although, for a time, I turn a blind eye upon this kind of men, such that I appear to absolve them, nevertheless, it will not be so. For I will not extend this forgiveness (or rather: this blind eye). Indeed, in the end, I will first punish them and then I will also visit their iniquities upon their children. Indeed, that is what He adds: Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and upon the children’s children to the third and fourth generation, that is, upon grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Accordingly, God is altogether righteous and, despite being merciful, He is the despiser and avenger of sin. What is more, God used these three categories of epithets—powerful, good and merciful, and righteous—to declare what He is like, insofar as is necessary for our salvation.

Use of and reflection upon God’s power ought to help us stand in adverse circumstances, because He is powerful to free us from them. And it should help us persevere in our duty in the midst of good fortune and not misuse it, because God can deprive us of it. In fact, reflection upon His goodness and mercy should not only keep us calling upon Him in faith and hoping—even expecting—salvation from Him but should also kindle in us love for Him. Finally, God’s righteousness is set forth unto us in order that, bridle-like, it might keep us from sin, being persuaded that, although God allows us to sin with impunity for a time, that is not the way it will always be, unless we repent. Rather, in the end, He will exact upon us a most harsh (but also completely just) punishment.

Nothing is more salutary for us than this doctrine. Thus, we see how great is the usefulness that knowledge of the divine names affords us. May God cause His divine names, along with true knowledge of them, always to go before our eyes. And as our knowledge of them increases, so also—more and more—may our piety increase as well.

And so, this is the end of the first book, which was (as it were) a sort of pedagogue and prelude[3] to the rest.