Jeremiah 31:29
New International Version
“In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

New Living Translation
“The people will no longer quote this proverb: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’

English Standard Version
In those days they shall no longer say: “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

Berean Standard Bible
“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’

King James Bible
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

New King James Version
In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

New American Standard Bible
“In those days they will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, But it is the children’s teeth that have become blunt.’

NASB 1995
“In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

NASB 1977
“In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

Legacy Standard Bible
“In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

Amplified Bible
“In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

Christian Standard Bible
“In those days, it will never again be said, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“In those days, it will never again be said: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

American Standard Version
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

Contemporary English Version
No longer will anyone go around saying, "Sour grapes eaten by parents leave a sour taste in the mouths of their children."

English Revised Version
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"When those days come, people will no longer say, 'Fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their children's teeth are set on edge.'

Good News Translation
When that time comes, people will no longer say, 'The parents ate the sour grapes, But the children got the sour taste.'

International Standard Version
"In those days people will no longer say, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, but the children's teeth have been set on edge.'

Majority Standard Bible
“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’

NET Bible
"When that time comes, people will no longer say, 'The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children's teeth have grown numb.'

New Heart English Bible
"In those days they shall say no more, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

Webster's Bible Translation
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

World English Bible
“In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
“In those days they no longer say: Fathers have eaten unripe fruit, "" And the sons’ teeth are blunted.

Young's Literal Translation
In those days they do not say any more: Fathers have eaten unripe fruit, And the sons' teeth are blunted.

Smith's Literal Translation
In those days they shall no more say, The fathers ate sour grapes and the sons teeth will be blunted.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.

Catholic Public Domain Version
In those days, they will no longer say: ‘The fathers ate a bitter grape, and the teeth of the sons have been affected.’

New American Bible
In those days they shall no longer say, “The parents ate unripe grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,”

New Revised Standard Version
In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
In those days they shall not say again, ‘The fathers ate sour grapes and the teeth of the children are set on edge’
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
In those days they shall say no more: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
In those days they shall certainly not say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth were set on edge.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Mourning Turned to Joy
28Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD. 29“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’ 30Instead, each will die for his own iniquity. If anyone eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.…

Cross References
Ezekiel 18:2-4
“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’? / As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. / Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.

Lamentations 5:7
Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.

Deuteronomy 24:16
Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.

2 Kings 14:6
Yet he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, but acted according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death for their children, and children must not be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.”

Ezekiel 18:19-20
Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live. / The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him.

Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Numbers 14:18
‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’

Isaiah 65:20
No longer will a nursing infant live but a few days, or an old man fail to live out his years. For the youth will die at a hundred years, and he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

Galatians 6:5
For each one should carry his own load.

Romans 14:12
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

John 9:2-3
and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” / Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.

Ezekiel 18:30
Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall.

Proverbs 9:12
If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage; but if you scoff, you alone will bear the consequences.


Treasury of Scripture

In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

Jeremiah 31:30
But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Lamentations 5:7
Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

Ezekiel 18:2,3
What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? …

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Jeremiah 31
1. The restoration of Israel.
10. The publication thereof.
15. Rahel mourning is comforted.
18. Ephraim repenting is brought home again.
22. Christ is promised.
27. His care over the church.
31. His new covenant.
35. The stability,
38. and amplitude of the church.














In those days
This phrase refers to a future time, often associated with the coming of a new covenant or a messianic age. In the context of Jeremiah, it points to a period of restoration and renewal for Israel. Historically, this is a time after the Babylonian exile when God promises to establish a new relationship with His people. Theologically, it signifies a shift from collective to individual responsibility, a theme that resonates with the New Testament's emphasis on personal faith and accountability.

it will no longer be said
This indicates a change in proverbial wisdom or common sayings of the time. The phrase suggests a transformation in societal beliefs and attitudes. In ancient Israel, proverbs were a way to express collective experiences and truths. The negation of this saying implies a significant shift in understanding divine justice and human responsibility, moving away from inherited guilt to personal accountability.

The fathers have eaten sour grapes
This part of the proverb reflects the belief that the actions of one generation directly affect the next. In Hebrew culture, this was a common understanding of generational sin and its consequences. The "sour grapes" symbolize sinful actions or disobedience to God. Theologically, this phrase underscores the Old Testament concept of corporate identity, where the family or nation bears the consequences of individual actions.

and the children’s teeth are set on edge
This imagery conveys the idea of children suffering the consequences of their parents' actions. The phrase "set on edge" suggests discomfort or a negative reaction, symbolizing the inherited consequences of sin. In the historical context, this reflects the communal nature of ancient societies, where the family unit was central, and the actions of one member could impact the entire group. Theologically, this part of the verse challenges the notion of transgenerational punishment, paving the way for a new understanding of individual responsibility before God.

(29, 30) The fathers have eaten a sour grape . . .--The proverb was one which, as we find from Ezekiel 18:2-3, had at this time come into common use. Men found in it an explanation of their sufferings which relieved their consciences. They were suffering, they said, for the sins of their fathers, not for their own. They distorted the words which, as asserting the continuity of national life, were attached to the second Commandment (Exodus 20:5), and instead of finding in them a warning restraining them from evil by the fear of transmitting evil to another generation, they found in them a plea for their own recklessness. Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah felt that the time was come when, even at the risk of a seeming contradiction to words clothed with a Divine authority, the other aspect of God's government had to be asserted in all its fulness: and therefore they lay stress on the truth that each man is responsible for his own acts, and for those alone, and that the law of the inheritance of evil (what we have learnt to call the law of heredite) leaves untouched the freedom of man's will. The "eater of the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge," is, as it were, an emendation of the proverbial saying. The words of the Latin poet, "Delicta majorum immeritus lues," "Thou, for no guilt of thine, shalt pay the forfeit of thy fathers' sins" (Hor. Od. iii. 6, 1), show how ready men have been at all times to make a like excuse. How the two truths are to be reconciled, the law of hereditary tendencies, and punishments that fall not on the original offenders, but on their children, and the law of individual responsibility, is a question to which we can give no formal answer. We must be content to accept both laws, and rest in the belief that the Judge of all the earth will assuredly do right.

Verse 29. - Have eaten a sour grape; rather, sour grapes. The prophet (like Ezekiel, ch. 18.) condemns the use of this proverb, and declares that the sinner is the artificer of his own ruin. At first sight, it may seem as if Jeremiah opposes the second commandment, which describes how God "visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children" (Exodus 20:5). This, however, cannot really be, for he endorses this declaration later on (Jeremiah 32:18). The fact is that he is not so much condemning the proverb, as the blasphemous application of it made by the Jews of his time. It is an eternal truth that sin perpetuates itself (except by the miracles of grace) in the children of transgressors, and intensified sin leads to intensified punishment. But the children of transgressors do not cease to be responsible for their own share in the sin; - this was the truth which Jeremiah's contemporaries ignored. He does not deny the solidarity of the family or the race,but he superadds the neglected truth of the special responsibility of the individual. This is one among many evidences of the deepening sense of individual life in the later period of the Jewish monarchy. (A somewhat different view is offered by Delitzsch, 'Messianic Prophecies,' § 50. According to him, Jeremiah looks forward to a time when the individual shall be liberated from the consequences of his solidarity with his race, and when personality shall be "invested with its rights." But can the individual be thus liberated?)

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“In those
הָהֵ֔ם (hā·hêm)
Article | Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

days,
בַּיָּמִ֣ים (bay·yā·mîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 3117: A day

it will no
לֹא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

longer
ע֔וֹד (‘ō·wḏ)
Adverb
Strong's 5750: Iteration, continuance, again, repeatedly, still, more

be said:
יֹאמְר֣וּ (yō·mə·rū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 559: To utter, say

‘The fathers
אָב֖וֹת (’ā·ḇō·wṯ)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1: Father

have eaten
אָ֣כְלוּ (’ā·ḵə·lū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 398: To eat

sour grapes,
בֹ֑סֶר (ḇō·ser)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1155: Unripe or sour grapes

and this has set the children’s
בָנִ֖ים (ḇā·nîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1121: A son

teeth
וְשִׁנֵּ֥י (wə·šin·nê)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - cdc
Strong's 8127: A tooth, ivory, a cliff

on edge.’
תִּקְהֶֽינָה׃ (tiq·he·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine plural
Strong's 6949: To be blunt or dull


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 31:29 In those days they shall say no (Jer.)
Jeremiah 31:28
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