As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.
God swears by Himself to show how abominable their blasphemy was. The Jews will not cease their rebellion, but God has torn away their excuse; their wickedness is now plain to all, and the world will see they suffer justly for their own crimes, not their fathers'. When men try to prove themselves innocent, they strip God of His justice, and it is no wonder He burns with anger at such theft.
AI summary
Evil proverbs beget good prophecies. The Jews complained that they suffered for their fathers' sins, as if God's judgment were unjust and absurd. Yet God had said He would visit the fathers' iniquity upon the children so that parents would fear sin and children would not follow their parents into it. The proverb mistakes this correction for cruelty.
AI summary
Commenting on Ezekiel 18:1-9
But if a man be just,.... Not legally, as to be wholly free from sin, for there is no such just man, Ecc 7:20; but evangelically, through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto him; and who has a principle of grace and holiness wrought in him; a man of a just principle and good conscience; who is disposed by the grace of God...