Jeremiah 31:29-30 | |
29. In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. | 29. In diebus illis non dicent amplius, Patres comederunt omphacium (uvam acerbam) et dentes filiorum obstupuerunt: |
30. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. | 30. Quin potius vir (hoc est; quisque) in sun iniquitate morietur; omnis homo comedens (hoc est, quisquis comederit) uvam acerbam obstupescent dentes ejus (aut, omnis viri qui comederit, dentes obstupescent) |
Ezekiel shews that it was a complaint commonly prevailing among the people, that they suffered for the sins of their fathers, as Horace also says, a heathen and a despiser of God, "O Roman, thou dost undeservedly suffer for the faults of thy fathers."1 Such, then, was the arrogance of the Jews, as to strive with God, as though he punished them, while they were innocent; and they expressed this by using a proverb, "If our fathers have eaten sour grapes, what is the reason that our teeth are set on edge?" We know that teeth are set on edge when unripe fruits are eaten; but the word properly means sour grapes, which the Greeks call omphakes. Then the Prophet says, that this proverb would be no longer used, for after having been tamed by evils, they would at length know that God had not dealt so severely with them without a just cause.
We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet. And he says,
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that since thou warnest us daily by so many evidences of thy wrath, that we may in due time repent, -- O grant, that we may not be slow to consider thy work, and also the doctrine which thou addest, but anticipate thy extreme vengeance, and thus be made capable of receiving thy mercy, that as thou freely offerest it to us, we may anxiously embrace it, and also so retain it in our hearts by true faith, that thou mayest continue its course towards us, until we shall at length reach that blessed rest, which has been prepared for us in heaven by Christ our Lord. -- Amen.
1 Carm., Lib. 3, Od. 6.
2 The Targum thus interprets this proverb, "The fathers have sinned, and the children have been smitten." "Blunted," or deprived of feeling, obstupuerunt, is both the Vulg. and the Syr. -- Ed.