Bible Strands
Jeremiah 31:29
“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.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Jeremiah to Israel, marking a transition from national judgment to a future era of restored responsibility.
The words — The Hebrew בֹ֑סֶר (Vo.ser) means “sour grape[s]” and אָ֣כְלוּ ('A.khe.lu) means “they have eaten,” anchoring the proverb that God declares obsolete.
The thread — The saying surfaces in Ezekiel 18:2 and is directly addressed in Jeremiah 31:30, which states that each person will die for his own iniquity rather than suffering for ancestral sin.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to reject inherited guilt as an excuse and accept direct accountability for their own conduct.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
Cross-references
- Lamentations 5:7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
- Ezekiel 18:2 “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’?
- Jeremiah 31:30 Instead, each will die for his own iniquity. If anyone eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.