21No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece tears away from the old, and the tear becomes worse. [2:22] And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine is destroyed along with the wineskins. New wine goes into fresh wineskins.
MRK 2:21-22
The Patches and the Wineskins
In the world it was spoken into
In the 1st century, clothing and wineskins were everyday items with practical significance. Unshrunk cloth was newly woven material that had not yet been washed or processed to prevent shrinking. Sewing such a patch onto old, already-shrunk clothing would cause the patch to pull away, tearing the garment further. Similarly, wineskins were made from animal hides, which became brittle and inflexible with age. New wine, still fermenting, would expand and burst old wineskins, destroying both the wine and the container. These metaphors would have been immediately recognizable to Jesus' audience, who understood the futility of trying to combine incompatible elements. The imagery reflects a broader cultural awareness of the need for appropriate vessels and frameworks to contain new realities. The listeners would have grasped the implicit contrast between old systems and the newness of Jesus' message, which could not be contained within existing structures without causing destruction.
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How other translations render this
MRK 2:21
- KJV
- No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.
- BSB
- No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, and a worse tear will result.
- Koinōnos
- No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece tears away from the old, and the tear becomes worse.
MRK 2:22
- KJV
- And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
- BSB
- And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”
- Koinōnos
- And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine is destroyed along with the wineskins. New wine goes into fresh wineskins.
Only verses where the wording diverges meaningfully are shown. Identical phrasings are suppressed.
Translator's notes
MRK 2:21
- of cloth:The word translated 'of cloth' refers to new, unshrunk cloth. This detail is important because such cloth would shrink when washed, causing the tear it was patching to become worse.
- the:The term used here, translated as 'the' (referring to the tear), carries the sense of a 'fullness' or 'completion.' In this context, it implies the tear would be made complete or worse by the new cloth.
MRK 2:22
- wineskins:The word translated 'wineskins' refers to animal skins, typically goat or sheep, used as containers for wine. These skins would become brittle with age, making them unsuitable for new, fermenting wine.
- will burst:The word translated 'will burst' implies a violent tearing or breaking apart. It suggests a forceful rupture, not just a gentle leak or splitting.