Set Your Teeth on Edge

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 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 throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.
In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

-- Jeremiah 31: 27-30 (KJV)

Though Jeremiah's bitter prophecy has come true and Judah has fallen to Nebuchadnezzar, here he preaches a message of hope. Just as the Lord has presided over his people's punishment, he will nurture them as they rebuild their kingdom.

When, furthermore, the kingdom of Judah returns from exile to its liberated land, the people shall no longer say "the fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Jeremiah's interesting phrase seems to have two meanings. On one level, he refers only to the returned exiles, who will no longer be able to sit around blaming the previous generation for their predicament. On a higher level, though, he's promising a new covenant between God and his chosen people that will extend into the future. No longer will Jews suffer for the sins of their ancestors; now, only the sinner -- the grape-eater himself -- must face the music.

But that doesn't answer the question of what "teeth ... set on edge" means. The Hebrew phrase is unclear, and the Latin Vulgate rendered it as "teeth are numbed." The English phrasing suggests otherwise. Wyclif gives "teeth waxen on edge" for the same Hebrew at Ezekiel 18: 2; he probably drew on the older expression "to edge one's teeth," which means something like "to put a tingle in one's mouth," as sour fruit and chalk were said to do, and as certain brands of chewing gum boast of doing today. Someone else will have to explain what people were doing eating chalk.

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!