Jeremiah 31:30

30 for every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Jeremiah 31:30 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 31:30

But everyone shall die for his own iniquity
His own personal iniquity; and not a corporeal death only, but an eternal one, which is the just wages of sin. It seems to intimate, that, after the Babylonish captivity, no public calamity should come upon them for the sins of their fathers and their own jointly, but for their own iniquities singly; so their last destruction by the Romans was for their personal disbelief and rejection of the Messiah; see ( John 8:24 ) ; and the calamities upon them ever since have been for the same reason. Indeed, they imprecated his blood upon them, and upon their children, and so it is; but then, their children are under the power of the same sin of unbelief, and will remain so, until the veil is taken away, and they turn to the Lord; after which it will still be a more clear case that everyone shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge;
sin, though it may be esteemed a sweet morsel, is a sour grape, and will prove so in the issue; and will give a man as much trouble and disquietude, when he is convinced of the evil of it, or suffers the punishment of it, as when a man's "teeth are set on edge"; and indeed the consequence of it will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Jeremiah 31:30 In-Context

28 And it shall come to pass, as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to overthrow, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build, and to plant, saith Jehovah.
29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge:
30 for every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31 Behold, days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day of my taking them by the hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.