4. Not have mercy. The children are prone to go in the evil ways of their parents and thus become partakers of their punishments (see on Ex. 20:5).
Children of whoredoms. If this refers to the children mentioned in 1, it indicates that they, or at least two of the three, were not actually the prophet’s own children (see on 1:6, 8). This passage calls attention to the persistent evil of Israel’s succeeding generations. The children proved themselves no better than the mother that bore them.