What Does Lamentations 5:7 Mean?

A troubling complaint: "Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities" (avoteinu khatu einam anakhnu avonoteihem savalnu, אֲבֹתֵינוּ חָטְאוּ אֵינָם אֲנַחְנוּ עֲוֺנֹתֵיהֶם סָבָלְנוּ). This became a popular proverb, quoted in Ezekiel 18:2: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." The complaint suggests injustice—we're suffering for previous generations' sins. Ezekiel 18 refutes this, emphasizing individual responsibility: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (18:4, 20). Jeremiah 31:29-30 similarly promises that in the new covenant, people die for their own sin, not others'. Yet there's truth to generational consequences: Exodus 20:5 warns God "visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." How to reconcile? Corporate solidarity is real—children do suffer consequences of parental sin (alcoholism, poverty, broken families, bad theology). But this doesn't excuse individual sin. The exile generation wasn't innocent; they persisted in their fathers' sins (Jeremiah 7:25-26).