H1155 H1155
Unripe or sour grapes; used both literally of premature fruit and proverbially of inherited guilt.
Denotes grapes that are not yet ripe — either green and hard or sour and astringent. Isaiah 18:5 uses it literally: God will cut away vine branches when the blossom becomes a ripening grape, just before harvest. Job 15:33 compares the wicked to a vine that shakes off its unripe grapes prematurely. But the word is best known from the proverb quoted in Jeremiah 31:29 and Ezekiel 18:2: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge' — a complaint about inherited punishment that both prophets then overturn with the principle of individual responsibility.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Unripe or sour grapes, used of fruit that has not reached maturity and carries an unpleasant taste. In Isaiah 18:5, it appears in an agricultural metaphor for God's pre-harvest pruning of nations. Job 15:33 compares the wicked to an olive tree casting off its blossoms and a vine dropping its unripe grapes (בִּסְרוֹ). The proverbial use in Jeremiah 31:29-30 and Ezekiel 18:2 — Spanish 'uvas-agrias,' English 'sour-grapes' — embeds the word in a theological argument: the old saying about fathers eating sour grapes and children suffering is declared obsolete. The Arabic cognate بُسْر ('unripe dates') confirms the core sense of premature, unpalatable fruit. 4×
AR["الْحِصْرِمَ", "حِصْرِمًا", "وَ-الْحِصْرِمُ"]·ben["ও-কাঁচা", "কাঁচা-আঙুর", "কাঁচা-আঙুর-সেই"]·DE["[בסר]", "[הבסר]", "[ובסר]"]·EN["and-unripe-grape", "sour-grapes", "the-sour-grapes"]·FR["[בסר]", "[הבסר]", "[ובסר]", "raisin"]·heb["בוסר", "ה-בוסר", "ו-בוסר"]·HI["और-कच्चा-अंगूर", "खट्टा-अंगूर", "खट्टे-अंगूर"]·ID["buah-anggur-mentah", "buah-mentah", "dan-buah-mentah"]·IT["[בסר]", "e-grappolo", "grappolo"]·jav["lan-woh-mentah", "woh-anggur-mentah"]·KO["그-신-포도를", "그리고-덕덮이-않은-포도가", "신-포도를"]·PT["a-uva-verde", "e-a-uva-verde", "uvas-verdes"]·RU["и-незрелый-виноград", "кислый-виноград", "незрелый-виноград"]·ES["las-uvas-agrias", "uvas-agrias", "y-agraz"]·SW["na-zabibu-mbichi", "zabibu-mbichi"]·TR["ekşi-üzüm", "ekşi-üzümü-o", "ve-dişleri", "ve-koruk"]·urd["اور-کچا-انگور", "کچے-انگور"]
Related Senses
H3754 1. vineyard, cultivated grape plot (92×)H0730 1. cedar tree or wood (73×)H1612 1. vine, grapevine (55×)H3293a 1. forest, wood, thicket (55×)H5560 1. fine flour (53×)H5193 1. plant vegetation (48×)H2232 1. sow seed, plant crops (41×)H1715 1. grain, cereal crop (40×)H7114b 1. reap, harvest grain (36×)H2132 1. olive tree (34×)H8184 1. barley (34×)H2406 1. wheat (grain crop) (30×)H7070 1. reed, cane (plant) (30×)H7848 1. acacia (28×)H8328 1. root of a plant (28×)H8384 1. fig tree (25×)H5488 1. reeds, rushes (in 'Sea of Reeds') (24×)G0290 1. a vineyard (23×)G2325 1. reap, harvest a crop (21×)G4687 1. sow seed, plant (21×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† בֹ֫סֶר n.m. Is 18:5 unripe or sour grapes coll. (NH id., Aramaic בּוּסְרָא, ܒܶܣܽܪܬܳܐ (PS; syllable ܒܶ uncertain [Nes, privately]; Polyglotts and Castell have ܒܣܰܪܬܳܐ); Arabic بُسْرٌ unripe dates)—בֹּסֶר Is 18:5 + 3 times, בִּסְרוֹ Jb 15:33;—unripe grapes Is 18:5 Jb 15:33; sour g. Je 31:29, 30 Ez 18:2.