«وَعَظَّمْتُمُ الْعِظَامَ الرُّفَاتَ»
You have exalted bones long turned to dust.
Al-ʿiẓām means bones; al-rufāt suggests crumbling remains. The sentence is not a literal inquiry about human remains. It is a sarcastic image of exaggerated reverence for those who lived in earlier times.
The elder is not required to deny the earlier masters’ accomplishments. His criticism falls on the audience’s imbalance: praise of celebrated predecessors has become an excuse to dismiss any comparable talent in the present.
«وَغَمَصْتُمْ جِيلَكُمُ»
And you have belittled your own generation.
Ghamaṣa means to diminish someone’s rightful worth or hold them in contempt. The elder’s two accusations form a deliberate contrast between excessive reverence and unfair dismissal.