What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel…?: This question is not asking for an explanation of the meaning of the proverb. Rather, it is an idiom that asks about the intention of those who use it. It may be rendered “Why are you using this proverb…?” or “Why do you keep repeating this proverb…?” (New Jerusalem Bible). The Hebrew pronoun for you is plural. It does not refer to Ezekiel, but to the Israelites who were using the proverb. In English translators can make this clear by beginning this question with “Why do the people keep using this proverb…?” or “Say to the people, ‘Why do you keep using this proverb…?’ ” Like those in 12.21 and 16.44, this proverb is a popular “saying” (Contemporary English Version, New Century Version) that is short and easy to remember (see 12.22). The Hebrew phrase rendered concerning the land of Israel is the same one translated “about the land of Israel” in 12.22, and it has the same possible meanings (see the comments there). Revised Standard Version‘s rendering fits well with the context in which the people in exile are using the proverb and talking “about the land of Israel” (New International Version). The other possible meaning for this phrase is “in the land of Israel” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch; similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). This interpretation implies that the people using the proverb were those who were still in Jerusalem and the rest of Judah. We know from Jer 31.29 that the people in Judah were using the same saying, but it is likely that the exiles had heard it and were now using it themselves. “In the land of Israel” is the better interpretation because the proverb is not really about the land at all.

The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge is the proverb. Fathers refers to the previous generations (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on); it should be rendered “parents” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) or “ancestors,” so that it is not restricted only to males. Sour grapes refers to unripe grapes, and teeth are set on edge describes the sensation in the mouth when someone bites into a piece of unripe fruit. Although the idiom of teeth being set on edge has entered the English language from this proverb, the Hebrew expression here is literally “the teeth are blunt.” This is why some translations have different renderings, such as “teeth are blunted” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “got the sour taste” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version), “mouth’s pucker at the taste” (New Living Translation), and “have a toothache” (Bible en français courant). It is best if translators can find an appropriate local proverb with the correct meaning.

The meaning of this proverb is that children suffer for something that their parents did. The people in Ezekiel’s time were using the proverb because they believed that God was treating them unfairly. Their homes and their land had been destroyed in war and many of them had been taken into exile in Babylonia. They did not think that they had sinned, and they did not think they deserved to be punished in this way. They believed that they were suffering as punishment for their parents’ and grandparents’ sins. The basis for this was the statement in the Ten Commandments that God will punish the children of those who hate him “to the third and the fourth generation” (Exo 20.5; see also Deut 5.9). As a result, Ezekiel’s audience were feeling that they had no control over their own lives, and it made no difference how they lived—even if they were good, God punished them for someone else’s sins.

This whole verse including quoting the proverb is a question. In many languages this will be an unnatural structure. If so, one possible model is:

• “There is this proverb [or, saying]: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes [or, unripe fruit], but it is the children who have the sour taste in their mouths.’ Why do the people keep repeating this in the land of Israel?

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .