Jeremiah 31:29

The Lord Will Make a New Covenant with Israel and Judah

31:29 “When that time comes, people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children’s teeth have grown numb.’ 1 

Jeremiah 6:21

6:21 So, this is what the Lord says:

‘I will assuredly 2  make these people stumble to their doom. 3 

Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. 4 

Friends and neighbors will die.’

Jeremiah 13:14

13:14 And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. 5  I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ 6  says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 32:18

32:18 You show unfailing love to thousands. 7  But you also punish children for the sins of their parents. 8  You are the great and powerful God who is known as the Lord who rules over all. 9 

1 tn This word only occurs here and in the parallel passage in Ezek 18:2 in the Qal stem and in Eccl 10:10 in the Piel stem. In the latter passage it refers to the bluntness of an ax that has not been sharpened. Here the idea is of the “bluntness” of the teeth, not from having ground them down due to the bitter taste of sour grapes but to the fact that they have lost their “edge,” “bite,” or “sharpness” because they are numb from the sour taste. For this meaning for the word see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:197.

sn This is a proverbial statement that is also found in Ezek 18:2. It served to articulate the complaint that the present generation was suffering for the accrued sins of their ancestors (cf. Lam 5:7) and that the Lord was hence unjust (Ezek 18:25, 29). However, Jeremiah had repeatedly warned his own generation that they were as guilty or even more so than their ancestors. The ancestors were indeed guilty of sin but the present generation had compounded the problem by their stubborn refusal to turn back to God despite repeated warnings from the prophets and hence God would withhold judgment no longer (cf. especially Jer 16:10-13 and compare Jer 7:24-34; 9:12-16 (9:11-15 HT); 11:1-13).

2 tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle rendered “behold” joined to the first person pronoun.

3 tn Heb “I will put stumbling blocks in front of these people.” In this context the stumbling blocks are the invading armies.

4 tn The words “and fall to their destruction” are implicit in the metaphor and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

5 tn Or “children along with their parents”; Heb “fathers and children together.”

6 tn Heb “I will not show…so as not to destroy them.”

7 tn Or “to thousands of generations.” The contrast of showing steadfast love to “thousands” to the limitation of punishing the third and fourth generation of children for their parents’ sins in Exod 20:5-6; Deut 5:9-10; Exod 34:7 has suggested to many commentators and translators (cf., e.g., NRSV, TEV, NJPS) that reference here is to “thousands of generations.” The statement is, of course, rhetorical emphasizing God’s great desire to bless as opposed to the reluctant necessity to punish. It is part of the attributes of God spelled out in Exod 34:6-7.

8 tn Heb “pays back into the bosom of their children the sin of their parents.”

9 tn Heb “Nothing is too hard for you who show…and who punishes…the great [and] powerful God whose name is Yahweh of armies, [you who are] great in counsel…whose eyes are open…who did signs…” Jer 32:18-22 is a long series of relative clauses introduced by participles or relative pronouns in vv. 18-20a followed by second person vav consecutive imperfects carrying on the last of these relative clauses in vv. 20b-22. This is typical of hymnic introductions to hymns of praise (cf., e.g., Ps 136) but it is hard to sustain the relative subordination which all goes back to the suffix on “hard for you.” The sentences have been broken up but the connection with the end of v. 17 has been sacrificed for conformity to contemporary English style.