age of accountability

³⁹Your little ones, about whom you said that they would be led away as captives, and your sons, who to this day are ignorant of the difference between good and evil, they shall enter. And I will give the land to them, and they will possess it.

¹⁷Therefore, he who knows that he ought to do a good thing, and does not do it, for him it is a sin.

¹⁴Yet truly, Jesus said to them: “Allow the little children to come to me, and do not choose to prohibit them. For the kingdom of heaven is among such as these.”

¹⁶But even before the boy knows to refuse evil and to choose good, the land that you detest will be abandoned by the face of her two kings.

¹¹A child may be understood by his interests: whether his works may be clean and upright.

²⁰The soul that sins, the same shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The justice of the just man shall be upon himself, but the impiety of the impious man shall be upon himself.

¹²And so, each one of us shall offer an explanation of himself to God.

³And he said: “Amen I say to you, unless you change and become like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

⁴²And when he had become twelve years old, they ascended to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast day. ⁴³And having completed the days, when they returned, the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem. And his parents did not realize this. ⁴⁴But, supposing that he was in the company, they went a day’s journey, seeking him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵And not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. ⁴⁶And it happened that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, listening to them and questioning them.

⁷For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sinfulness did my mother conceive me.

⁴Sinners have become foreigners from the womb; they have gone astray from conception. They have been speaking falsehoods.

²³For all have sinned and all are in need of the glory of God.

²³But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Would I be able to bring him back anymore? Instead, I will go to him. Yet truly, he will not return to me.”

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through the believing husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, whereas instead they are holy.

²⁸Therefore, say to them: As I live, says the Lord, as you spoke in my hearing, so will I do to you. ²⁹In the wilderness, here shall your carcasses lie. All you who were numbered from twenty years and above, and who have murmured against me, ³⁰you shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to cause you to live there, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

¹⁴He who has been numbered from twenty years and above shall give the price.