# What do you mean, you who use this proverb ... 'Fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are made blunt'?

Yahweh asks this rhetorical question to remind Ezekiel something he already knows. The question is a rebuke for the people who use the proverb. Alternate translation: "The people in the land of Israel have this proverb ... 'Fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are made blunt'." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion]])

# What do you mean, you who use this proverb

Here the word "you" is plural and refers to the people of Israel. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-you]])

# land of Israel

This refers to the people of Israel. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])

# Fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are made blunt

This proverbs means that children experience the consequences of their parents' actions. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/writing-proverbs]])

# the children's teeth are made blunt

The idiom "teeth are made blunt" refers to the sour taste in one's mouth that is a result of eating unripe or sour fruit. Alternate translation: "the children get a sour taste in their mouths" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-idiom]])

