gefen · vine

What it means

gefen (גֶּפֶן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “vine”.

The plant that bears grapes.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The plant that bears clusters of fruit for wine.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Vine: the plant that bears grapes and gives wine. It very often goes together with the fig tree as a sign of a good land and of life in peace.

• The vine as a plant and its fruit Genesis 40:9Numbers 6:42 Kings 4:39
• “Each man under his vine and under his fig tree”: a secure life 1 Kings 4:25Micah 4:4
• Israel compared to a vine Psalms 80:8Hosea 10:1Jeremiah 2:21
• The vine that dries up, a sign of judgment Joel 1:12Habakkuk 3:17

Historical and cultural background

The vine is among the products of the promised land: “a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates” (Deuteronomy 8:8). The Nazirite could not eat “anything that is made from the vine of wine” (Numbers 6:4).

How we translate it

Always “vine” (48 times) or “vines” (6), and once “grapevine”. In 2 Kings 4:39 it is “a wild vine”, and in Hosea 10:1 “a luxuriant vine”. The vineyard (כֶּרֶם, H3754), which is the planted ground, and the vine, which is the plant, are different words.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• vine ×48
• vines ×6
• grapevine ×1

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Numbers×2
• Deuteronomy×3
• Judges×3
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×2
• Job×1
• Psalms×5
• Song of Songs×4
• Isaiah×7
• Jeremiah×5
• Ezekiel×7
• Hosea×3
• Joel×3
• Micah×1
• Habakkuk×1
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×2
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 40:9

  So the chief of the cupbearers told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream, look, a vine was before me,

• Genesis 40:10

  and on the vine were three branches; and as it budded, its blossoms came up, and its clusters ripened into grapes.

• Genesis 49:11

  Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garment in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes.

• Numbers 6:4

  All the days of his consecration he shall not eat anything that is made from the vine of wine, from seeds to skin.

• Numbers 20:5

  And why have you brought us up from Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”

• Deuteronomy 8:8

  a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees for oil and of honey;

• Deuteronomy 32:32

  For their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; they have bitter clusters.

• Judges 9:12

  Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come, you, reign over us.’

• Judges 9:13

  But the vine said to them, ‘Should I give up my new wine, which cheers Elohim and men, and go to sway over the trees?’

• Judges 13:14

  Of anything that comes from the grapevine she shall not eat, and wine or intoxicating drink she shall not drink, and any uncleanness she shall not eat. All that I commanded her she shall keep.”

• 1 Kings 4:25

  And Judah and Israel lived securely, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

• 2 Kings 4:39

  One went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine and gathered from it wild gourds, his garment full, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were.

• 2 Kings 18:31

  Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make peace with me and come out to me, and eat, each from his vine and each from his fig tree, and drink, each the water of his cistern,

• Job 15:33

  He will violently tear off, like the vine, his unripe grapes, and cast off, like the olive tree, his blossom.

• Psalms 78:47

  He killed with hail their vine, and their sycamores with frost.

• Psalms 80:8

  A vine out of Egypt you pulled up; you drove out nations and planted it.

• Psalms 80:14

  Elohim Tsevaot, return, please; look from the heavens and see, and attend to this vine,

• Psalms 105:33

  And he struck their vines and their fig trees, and broke the trees of their territory.

• Psalms 128:3

  Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner parts of your house; your children like shoots of olive trees around your table.

• Song of Songs 2:13

  The fig tree has ripened its early figs, and the vines in blossom give fragrance. Arise, my companion, my beautiful one, and come away.”

• Song of Songs 6:11

  To the garden of walnut trees I went down to see the green shoots of the valley, to see whether the vine had blossomed, whether the pomegranates had budded.

• Song of Songs 7:8

  I said, “I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its branches.” And please let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the fragrance of your nose like apples,

• Song of Songs 7:12

  Let us rise early to the vineyards; let us see whether the vine has blossomed, whether the blossom has opened, whether the pomegranates have budded; there I will give my love to you.

• Isaiah 7:23

  And it will happen on that day that every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand pieces of silver will become briers and thorns.

• Isaiah 16:8

  For the fields of Heshbon languish, the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its choice branches; as far as Jazer they reached, they wandered into the wilderness; its shoots spread out, they crossed over the sea.

• Isaiah 16:9

  Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh; for on your summer fruit and on your harvest the shout has fallen.

• Isaiah 24:7

  The new wine mourns, the vine languishes; all the glad of heart sigh.

• Isaiah 32:12

  On the breasts they beat themselves in lament, for the fields of delight, for the fruitful vine,

• Isaiah 34:4

  And all the army of the heavens will dissolve, and the heavens will be rolled up like a book, and all their army will fade as a leaf fades from the vine, and as what fades from the fig tree.

• Isaiah 36:16

  Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make peace with me and come out to me, and eat, each from his vine and each from his fig tree, and drink, each the water of his cistern,

• Jeremiah 2:21

  And I planted you a choice vine, all of it true seed; and how have you turned for me into degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?

• Jeremiah 5:17

  And they will eat up your harvest and your bread; they will eat up your sons and your daughters; they will eat up your flocks and your herds; they will eat up your vine and your fig tree; they will shatter with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

• Jeremiah 6:9

  Thus says YHWH Tsevaot: “They will glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; turn back your hand like a grape gatherer over the branches.”

• Jeremiah 8:13

  I will gather them in completely, declares YHWH. There are no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf withers; and what I gave them will pass away from them.’”

• Jeremiah 48:32

  More than the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah! Your shoots crossed over the sea, to the sea of Jazer they reached; upon your summer fruit and upon your vintage the devastator has fallen.

• Ezekiel 15:2

  “Son of man, what is the wood of the vine more than any wood, the branch that was among the trees of the forest?

• Ezekiel 15:6

  Therefore thus says Adonai YHWH: “Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I have given the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 17:6

  And it sprouted and became a spreading vine, low in stature, so that its branches turned toward it, and its roots were under it; and it became a vine, and produced shoots and sent out foliage.

• Ezekiel 17:7

  And there was another great eagle, great of wings and full of feathers; and look, this vine bent its roots toward it, and sent out its branches toward it, so that it might water it, from the beds of its planting.

• Ezekiel 17:8

  In a good field, beside many waters, it was planted, to produce branches and to bear fruit, to become a glorious vine.’

And 15 more times.