Strange Vine

STRANGE VINE (נָכְרִיָּֽה). This occurs in Jeremiah 2:21, “the degenerate plant of a strange vine” (KJV).

It is thought that the plant referred to is Vitis orientalis, a synonym of Ampelopsis orientalis, a climbing shrub which has a resemblance to the vine, but bears red fruits like red currants. This is well known all over Asia Minor and Syria. These worthless, small acid berries might very well be the wild grapes of Isaiah 5:2 and 4.

There are those who claim that the plant was a useless seedling of the ordinary vine, which would, of course, look similar to a cultivated vine, but which would bear useless fruits. This is the wild or seedling vine to which Ezekiel refers in ch. 15, the only value of which is as fuel for the fire.