“‘The fathers eat sour grapes
And the children’s teeth become numb?’ 1
18:25 “Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s conduct 2 is unjust!’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my conduct unjust? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?
19:3 A person’s folly 3 subverts 4 his way,
and 5 his heart rages 6 against the Lord.
1 tn This word only occurs here and in the parallel passage in Jer 31:29-30 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.
2 tn Heb “way.”
3 tn Heb “the folly of a man.”
4 tn The verb סָלַף (salaf) normally means “to twist; to pervert; to overturn,” but in this context it means “to subvert” (BDB 701 s.v.); cf. ASV “subverteth.”
5 tn The clause begins with vav on the nonverb phrase “against the
6 sn The “heart raging” is a metonymy of cause (or adjunct); it represents the emotions that will lead to blaming God for the frustration. Genesis 42:28 offers a calmer illustration of this as the brothers ask what God was doing to them.