Jeremiah 31:29
in Jeremiah 31“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.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
KJV
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
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This verse in Jeremiah 31
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThe fathers have eaten a sour grape - A proverbial expression for, “The children suffer for the offenses of their parents.” This is explained in the next verse: “Every one shall die for his own iniquity.” No child shall suffer Divine punition for the sin of his father; only so far as he acts in the same way can he be said to bear the sins of his parents.
This site's exposition
This is what the LORD of
on Jeremiah 31:23-30
The prophet's one comment on the vision is his own: “My sleep had been most pleasant to me.” The watching of 1:12 returns reversed, “so I will watch over them to build and to plant.” The sour-grape proverb is repealed: “each will die for his own iniquity.”
This site's exposition
The fathers have eaten sour grapes
The proverb blamed the fathers for the children's pain. Adam Clarke explains it as a complaint that children suffer for their fathers' sins. The next verse answers that each will die for his own iniquity, and Ezekiel 18 quotes the same saying.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
It is similarly impossible, he says, for children to be called to account for ancestral sins, because I promise to children the greatest blessings even when their parents sin.
(Verses 29-30) In those days, they shall no longer say, 'The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge,' but each one shall die for his own iniquity. Every person who eats a sour grape, their teeth will be stunned.
In the mean time, whom will you be able to persuade that by receiving the lapsed the whole Church hath perished? That by the admission of penitents, the people of those who admit them has been made a denier of the Faith? But even if …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Mountains are convenient for vineyards, being free from shades and exposed to the sun. Shall plant - God promises them a liberty to plant, and that they should enjoy their plantations, eating them as common things, which they could not do 'till the fifth year. Arise - This was fulfilled under the gospel; for both Galilee and Samaria received the gospel.
In those days they shall say no more,.... The following proverb or byword; they should have no occasion to use it, nor should they choose to use it; since they would understand themselves, and the dispensations of Providence towards them, better than to use it: the fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge; that is, the fathers have sinned, and the children are punished for their sins.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
In those days--after their punishment has been completed, and mercy again visits them. fathers . . . eaten . . . sour grape . . . children's teeth . . . on edge--the proverb among the exiles' children born in Babylon, to express that they suffered the evil consequences of their fathers' sins rather than of their own (La 5:7;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּיָּמִ֣ים | baiyamim | in the days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הָהֵ֔ם | hahem | <the> those | H1992 → | 553 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יֹאמְר֣וּ | yomeru | people will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| ע֔וֹד | od | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
| אָב֖וֹת | ʾavot | fathers | H1 → | 1212 times |
| אָ֣כְלוּ | ʾakhelu | they have eaten | H398 → | 810 times |
| בֹ֑סֶר | voser | sour grape[s] | H1155 → | |
| וְשִׁנֵּ֥י | veshinei | and [the] teeth of | H8127 → | |
| בָנִ֖ים | vanim | children | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| תִּקְהֶֽינָה׃ | tikheinah | they will be blunt | H6949 → |
בַּיָּמִ֣יםin the days
baiyamimH3117 →2304 times
הָהֵ֔ם<the> those
hahemH1992 →553 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יֹאמְר֣וּpeople will say
yomeruH559 →5305 times
ע֔וֹדagain
odH5750 →490 times
אָב֖וֹתfathers
ʾavotH1 →1212 times
אָ֣כְלוּthey have eaten
ʾakheluH398 →810 times
בֹ֑סֶרsour grape[s]
voserH1155 →
וְשִׁנֵּ֥יand [the] teeth of
veshineiH8127 →
בָנִ֖יםchildren
vanimH1121 →4930 times
תִּקְהֶֽינָה׃they will be blunt
tikheinahH6949 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Lamentations 5:7Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 16:12
And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.
- 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 14:20
We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the guilt of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against You.
- 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…
- Jeremiah 31:15
This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
- Jeremiah 16:12
Through
Jeremiah 31:30Instead, each will die for his own iniquity. If anyone eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 18:20
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…
- Isaiah 3:11
Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
- 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.
- Ezekiel 18:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies24
On this verse
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About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pacian of Barcelona, LETTER 3:3.3 and Theodoret of Cyrus, ON JEREMIAH 7:31.