Jeremiah 31:27

"Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that, like 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. In those days they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge."

"Behold the days come ..." (Jeremiah 31:27). It is amazing how often this or equivalent expressions such as "at that time," occur in this chapter, all of which point unerringly to the Age of Messiah for the fulfillment of the revelation recorded here.

"Thus saith Jehovah ..." (Jeremiah 31:27,28, etc.). Some nineteen times in the forty verses of this chapter this formula appears. The New Covenant that God is announcing here is radically different from anything ever heard of before; and this oft-repeated statement "thus saith Jehovah" was necessary. As Green said, "The sulking cynical captives would be skeptical; and therefore the announcement of it gets a heavy stamp of divine authority: `this is revelation!' "[6]

"I have watched over them to pluck up, etc. ..." (Jeremiah 31:28). This is a reference to what Jeremiah had written in Jeremiah 18:7-10; and if Israel would now truly believe and serve God, all of the great blessings would be poured out upon them.

"The fathers have eaten sour grapes, etc. ..." (Jeremiah 31:29). This seems to have been a popular proverb among the Israelites, because Ezekiel also mentioned it and based upon it a chapter regarding individual responsibility (Ezekiel 18). The people were using this saying, "To excuse themselves from responsibility for the predicament they were in, to pass the buck to their forbears, and ultimately to God."[7]

In the Messianic age to come, Jeremiah prophesies here that, "Men will no more accuse God of unrighteousness, as in the wicked proverb, but they will perceive that everyone has to suffer for his own guilt."[8]