Pagar justos por pecadores
For the righteous to pay for the sinners.
for the innocent to suffer for the guilty; **for the innocent to suffer for the guilty**; **to punish everyone for the actions of a few**; **to make the innocent pay for the guilty**; **to punish the innocent along with the guilty**; **to castigate everyone because of a few bad apples**
Pagar justos por pecadores means for innocent people to suffer because of the actions of guilty people, or for everyone to be punished because of the wrongdoing of a few.
Por culpa de unos pocos, vamos a pagar justos por pecadores.
Because of a few people, the innocent are going to suffer for the guilty.
Han prohibido los móviles a todos los alumnos; al final pagan justos por pecadores.
They've banned mobile phones for all the students; the innocent are being punished for the guilty.
Yo no hice nada, pero estoy pagando justos por pecadores.
I didn't do anything, but I'm suffering because of what someone else did.
No es justo que paguen justos por pecadores.
It's not fair to punish the innocent for the guilty.
Por culpa de unos tramposos, todos vamos a pagar justos por pecadores.
Because of a few cheaters, we're all going to pay the price.
It is used when someone who has done nothing wrong is nevertheless forced to bear the consequences of someone else's behaviour.
A common construction is:
Pagar justos por pecadores.
→ For the innocent to suffer for the guilty.
- innocent people are punished for someone else's actions
- a whole group suffers because of the behaviour of a few
- someone is unfairly blamed or penalised
- a general rule is introduced because of the misconduct of certain individuals
- people who were not responsible have to bear the consequences
The expression comes from the contrast between justos (the righteous or innocent) and pecadores (sinners or guilty people).
The idea has a strong connection with Christian moral vocabulary, in which "the just" and "the sinner" represent morally opposed categories.
The expression became a general metaphor for collective punishment or unfair distribution of blame, far beyond its original religious context.
The expression usually implies that the punishment or consequence is collective, even though responsibility is individual.
For example:
Uno copió en el examen y ahora no dejan usar apuntes a nadie. Pagan justos por pecadores.
The complaint is not necessarily that the guilty person escaped punishment. The criticism is that the innocent are also suffering because of what the guilty did.
The expression is often used when talking about rules that affect everyone because of the behaviour of a minority.
For example:
Han castigado a toda la clase por lo que hicieron dos alumnos. Pagan justos por pecadores.
This makes the idiom particularly useful in discussions about education, workplaces, families, organisations and public policy, whenever a collective penalty is imposed because of the actions of a few.
The word pagar does not necessarily mean literally paying money.
Here it means to bear a consequence or suffer a penalty.
Pagar por algo.
→ To pay for something / to suffer the consequences of something.
Thus:
Pagan justos por pecadores.
means:
The innocent are suffering for the guilty.
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