EXOD684 Individual reward and punishment. The Torah also promises retribution on an individual basis. For instance, Israelites are prohibited from oppressing the widow and fatherless, lest the cry of the abused provoke God's rage, and God "will put you to the sword and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans" [this verse]. Deuteronomy assures the Israelites that if he distributes the tithes of his produce to the widow, fatherless, stranger, and Levite (the priests), "the Lord your God may bless you and all the enterprises you undertake" (Deut 14:29). Generosity to the newly released slave similarly brings God's blessing (Deut 15:10) [?-AJL], and he who releases a mother bird and takes only her young is rewarded with an extended lifespan (Deut 22:7). Honoring parents and using honest weights and measures in commercial transactions is recompensed with "enduring long on the soil that the Lord your God is giving you (Exod 20:12, Deut 5:16, 25:15); here the reward may be individual or collective. Regarding the Decalogue's assertion that God visits "the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those who reject Me" (Exodus 20:5, Deut 5:9), Deuteronomy warns the transgressor that he cannot hope to escape punishment himself (Deut 7:10). (Emphasis upon individual (rather than collective or transgenerational) punishment is found in Ezekiel 18:2-4; Jeremiah 31:29–30.) [For author's discussion of "Collective reward and punishment," see [[EXOD332]] Exodus 19:6 nation OXFORD 38] (By Elaine Adler Goodfriend, “Ethical Theory and Practice in the Hebrew Bible)