Sour Grapes

Ezekiel 18:1–4|Jeremiah 31:27–30

Biblical Period

1The word of the Lord came to me: 2What do you mean by quoting this proverb upon the soil of Israel, “Parents eat sour grapes and their children’s teeth are blunted”? 3As I live—declares the Lord God—this proverb shall no longer be current among you in Israel. 4Consider, all lives are Mine; the life of the parent and the life of the child are both Mine. The person who sins, only he shall die.

27See, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Judah with seed of men and seed of cattle; 28and just as I was watchful over them to uproot and to pull down, to overthrow and to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will be watchful over them to build and to plant—declares the Lord. 29In those days, they shall no longer say, “Parents have eaten sour grapes and children’s teeth are blunted.” 30But every one shall die for his own sins: whosoever eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be blunted.

Credits

Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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