(Ibid.) "He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children (for the third and the fourth generations"): when they (the generations) are consecutive. How so? An evildoer, the son of an evildoer, the son of an evildoer; a renegade, the son of a renegade, the son of a renegade. When Moses heard this, he bowed to the ground and prostrated himself, saying, G–d forbid, there is no evildoer, the son of an evildoer, the son of an evildoer in Israel! If G–d's measure for punishment is four generations, is his measure for good also four generations? It is, therefore, written (6) "for thousands." From "thousands" I would understand the minimum of "thousands"—two. It is, therefore, written (Devarim 7:9) "for a thousand generation"—without limit and without number.