Ezekiel 18:2

For both this man hath sinned and his parents, but his blindness proceedeth not from that. And this He said, not signifying that though this man indeed was not in such case, yet that others had been made blind from such a cause, the sins of their parents, since it cannot be that when one sinneth another should be punished. For if we allow this, we must also allow that he sinned before his birth. As therefore when He declared, "neither hath this man sinned," He said not that it is possible to sin from one's very birth, and be punished for it; so when He said, "nor his parents," He said not that one may be punished for his parents' sake. This supposition He removeth by the mouth of Ezekiel; "As I live saith the Lord, this proverb shall not be, that is used, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." And Moses saith, "The father shall not die for the child, neither shall the child die for the father."

(Chapter XVIII. — Verses 1, 2.) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is that you turn a parable among you into this proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge? LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ÷ Son of man, what is this parable in the children of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge? What the Seventy have said, son of man, is not found in Hebrew. However, divine Scripture warns about what was said in Exodus: I am the Lord your God. I am a jealous God, who punishes the sins of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and shows mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments (Exod. X, 5; Deut. V, 9, 10). And again: The Lord descended in a cloud and stood with Moses, and Moses called upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord passed before his face and called him, saying: O Lord, God, merciful and compassionate, patient, full of mercy and true, preserving justice and mercy to thousands, forgiving iniquities, injustices, and sins; and yet he will not cleanse the iniquities of fathers upon children and children's children, to the third and fourth generation (Exod. XXXIV, 5 seq.). Thus, it should be understood as a proverb and a parable, where the words may have one meaning but the sense another; as we mentioned in the parable of the two eagles. And the Lord also in the seventy-seventh psalm says: "I will open my mouth in parables: I will declare a proposition from the beginning" (Ps. LXXVI, 2[1]). And in the Gospel, the parable of the sower, and of the tares, and of the mustard seed, which, though it is the smallest of all seeds, rises up into a large tree (Matt. XIII, 31). […]

It was this new covenant that was prophesied about when it was said by Ezekiel that the children should not bear the iniquity of the parents, and that it should no longer be a proverb in Israel, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Here lies the necessity that each person should be born again, that he might be freed from the sin in which he was born. For the sins committed afterwards can be cured by penitence, as we see is the case after baptism.

For the last and supposedly strongest argument for your case, you refer to the prophetic testimony of Ezekiel, where we read that there will no longer be a proverb in which they say the parents have eaten sour grapes and the teeth of the children are on edge; the child will not die in the sin of his parent or the parent in the sin of his child, but the soul that sins shall die. You do not understand that this is the promise of the New Testament and of the other world. For the grace of the Redeemer ensured that he cancelled the paternal decree, so that each person should account for himself.

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?

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture