Passage
What meane ye that ye speake this prouerbe, concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers haue eaten sowre grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge?
Ezekiel 18:2 (GNV)
Nearby Context
Ezekiel 18:1 The worde of the Lord came vnto me againe, saying,
Ezekiel 18:2 What meane ye that ye speake this prouerbe, concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers haue eaten sowre grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge?
Ezekiel 18:3 As I liue, sayth the Lord God, ye shall vse this prouerbe no more in Israel.
Ezekiel 18:4 Beholde, all soules are mine, both the soule of the father, and also the soule of the sonne are mine: the soule that sinneth, it shall die.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "meane", "speake", "prouerbe", "concerning", "land", "israel", "saying", and "fathers". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "meane" and "speake", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 1's "The worde of the Lord came vnto..." into verse 3's "As I liue sayth the Lord God...", so "meane" and "speake" belong inside that flow. In Ezekiel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "meane" and "speake" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.