What does ὄξος (óxos) mean in the Bible?
Oxos names sour wine or vinegar-like wine, and in the Gospels it appears in the crucifixion scene. Matthew and Mark show sour wine being lifted to Jesus on a sponge.
Greek · G3690
ὄξος
Vinegar
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ὄξος G3690
Pronunciation óxos
What does ὄξος (óxos) mean in the Bible?
Oxos names sour wine or vinegar-like wine, and in the Gospels it appears in the crucifixion scene. Matthew and Mark show sour wine being lifted to Jesus on a sponge.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὄξος (G3690) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3690?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include sour wine (3), with sour wine (2), [in the] wine (1).
Where does ὄξος (óxos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 27:48. Its strongest book concentrations include John (3), Luke (1), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Oxos names sour wine or vinegar-like wine, and in the Gospels it appears in the crucifixion scene. Matthew and Mark show sour wine being lifted to Jesus on a sponge. Luke places sour wine in the soldiers' mockery. John mentions a jar of sour wine, the sponge lifted to Jesus' mouth, and Jesus receiving it before saying, It is finished. The word should be taught as a concrete passion detail, not as a free-standing symbol.
It belongs to the suffering, mockery, Scripture-shaped fulfillment, and final moments of Jesus' death. Teachers should keep the focus on the crucified Christ and on what each Gospel states, avoiding speculation about motive or meaning beyond the narrative.
How the Bible Uses It
Oxos names sour wine in the crucifixion narratives. The word belongs to Jesus' suffering, mockery, and final passion moments, especially in John 19 before His finished-work declaration.
- Matt.27.48
One of them quickly ran and brought a sponge. He filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed, and held it up for Jesus to drink.
Matthew shows sour wine lifted to Jesus on a sponge during the crucifixion.
- Mark.15.36
And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine. He put it on a reed and held it up for Jesus to drink, saying, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.”
Mark pairs the sour wine with the surrounding speech about Elijah.
- Luke.23.36
The soldiers also mocked Him and came up to offer Him sour wine.
Luke places sour wine in the soldiers' mocking treatment of Jesus.
- John.19.29
A jar of sour wine was sitting there. So they soaked a sponge in the wine, put it on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted it to His mouth.
John describes the jar, sponge, hyssop stalk, and sour wine lifted to Jesus.
- John.19.30
When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.
Jesus receives the sour wine before declaring, "It is finished."
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It sour wine 3× Luke 23:36, John 19:29, John 19:30
with sour wine 2× Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:36
[in the] wine 1× John 19:29
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 27:48 ὄξους to with sour wine Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular Mark 15:36 ὄξους to with sour wine Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular Luke 23:36 ὄξος to sour wine Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular John 19:29 ὄξους to sour wine Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular John 19:29 ὄξους to [in the] wine Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular John 19:30 ὄξος to sour wine Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 27:48
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 4
Matthew 1 Mark 1 Luke 1 John 3
Source forms
ὄξους 4x oxous Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:36, John 19:29
ὄξος 2x oxos Luke 23:36, John 19:30
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular 4x Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:36, John 19:29
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular 2x Luke 23:36, John 19:30
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use sour wine to keep Jesus' suffering concrete and text-governed.
- Let John 19 move from the received sour wine to Jesus' finished work without forcing extra symbolism.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that oxos itself proves a doctrine apart from the crucifixion narrative.
- Do not treat every Gospel mention as identical in emphasis when Luke, John, Matthew, and Mark frame the scene differently.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Sour wine drink of laborers and soldiers, marking Jesus's humiliation through lowest-class refreshment.
Strong's G3690
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 7 times Word forms 2 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Proverbs 25:20 Source Gloss
vinegar
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Sour wine drink of laborers and soldiers, marking Jesus's humiliation through lowest-class refreshment.
(ὄξύς), [in LXX: Num.6:3, Rut.2:14, Psa.69:21, Pro.25:20 (חֹמֶץ)* ;] sour wine (posca, vin-Deu pays), the ordinary drink of labourers and common soldiers: Mat.27:48, Mrk.15:36, Luk.23:36, Jhn.19:29-30.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 27:34 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
ὄξος oxov
vinegar, sour wine
Read verse Matthew 27:48 Noun Genitive Singular Neuter
ὄξους, oxouv
vinegar, sour wine
Read verse Mark 15:36 Noun Genitive Singular Neuter
ὄξους, oxouv
vinegar, sour wine
Read verse Luke 23:36 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
ὄξος oxov
vinegar, sour wine
Read verse John 19:29 Noun Genitive Singular Neuter
ὄξους oxouv
vinegar, sour wine
Read verse John 19:29 Noun Genitive Singular Neuter
ὄξους, oxouv
vinegar, sour wine
Read verse John 19:30 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
ὄξος oxov
vinegar, sour wine
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 2 Aligned forms 6 Case pattern Genitive (4) Number pattern Singular (6)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Singular · Neuter Matt 27:48 · Mark 15:36 · John 19:29 4×
Accusative · Singular · Neuter Luke 23:36 · John 19:30 2×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Sour wine used metaphorically to describe an unsuitable remedy or comfort
Sour wine used in comparison to describe an irritating or ineffective person
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ὄξος is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Oxos keeps attention on the embodied suffering of Jesus without letting a small detail overtake the Gospel's main claim. The sour wine is not an abstract metaphor. It is lifted to Jesus in the public shame of crucifixion, connected in Luke with mockery, and placed in John immediately before Jesus' finished-work declaration. That setting gives the word pastoral weight.
It reminds readers that the Son's saving work was accomplished through real thirst, pain, humiliation, and obedience. At the same time, the word must not be inflated into a doctrine by itself. Sour wine matters because the crucified Christ receives it in the hour when Scripture is fulfilled and His work is completed.
Anchor passage
John.19.30
Doctrinal connections
- G4716 Stauros: Sour wine belongs to the crucifixion scene and must be read there.
- G5055 Teleo: John places the sour wine just before Jesus says, "It is finished."
- G1372 Dipsao: Passion thirst and sour wine should be framed by the text, not by sentiment alone.
- G1702 empaizo: Luke connects the offer of sour wine with soldiers mocking Jesus.
- G4137 Pleroo: John's passion sequence should be handled with Scripture-shaped fulfillment in view.
- G3958 Pascho: Sour wine is one detail in the larger suffering of Christ.
Oxos names sour wine or vinegar-like wine. In these New Testament uses the term is concentrated in the crucifixion narratives, so its pastoral meaning is passion-bound rather than general.
From Old to New Testament
The passion narratives echo Scripture's pattern of righteous suffering, mockery, and thirst, but teachers should trace those links through the Gospel context rather than making the sour-wine word carry the full fulfillment claim alone.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain