Jeremiah 31:30 (DRB)

Passage

But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 31:28 And as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw down, and to scatter, and destroy, and afflict: so will I watch over them, to build up, and to plant them, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 31:29 In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.

Jeremiah 31:30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Jeremiah 31:31 Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:

Jeremiah 31:32 Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over them, saith the Lord.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "iniquity", "sour", "grape", "teeth", and "edge". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "iniquity", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 29's "In those days they shall say no..." into verse 31's "Behold the days shall come saith the...", so "shall" and "iniquity" belong inside that flow. In Jeremiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "iniquity" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.