5:39

This is the third short parable or illustration. Like the previous parable, it is about wine and wineskins. However, this parable makes a different point. Jesus said that people who had drunk old wine did not want to drink new wine. He was really talking about people who were content with the old ways and teaching of Jewish religion. He said that they were unwilling to consider the new ways and teaching that he had brought.

5:39a

And: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And introduces a third illustration. In this illustration, Jesus criticized those who wanted to keep to the old traditions.

Introduce this illustration in a way that is natural in your language. You can use the same word that you did in 5:37. You should make it clear that this is a third illustration. It is different from the previous illustration about wine and wineskins. Another way to translate this is:

Also

no one after drinking old wine wants new: This is a general statement of something that is true of most people. Use a natural form in your language to make a general statement. For example:

People who have drunk old wine do not want to drink new wine.
-or-
…you don’t want new wine after drinking old wine. (Good News Translation)

new: This Greek word for new is the same word that was used in 5:37a and 5:37b. It refers to wine that has been pressed recently from grapes and is not yet fermented or strongly fermented.

5:39b

for he says, ‘The old is better.’: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as says here could also mean “thinks” or “believes.”

The old is better:
In this statement, people are comparing new wine with old wine. The statement is literally “the old is good,” meaning that it is good when compared with the new. Many English versions translate “good” as “better” (for example, the Berean Standard Bible and the New International Version). Express this comparison in a natural way in your language.

General Comment on 5:39

You may want to add a footnote to explain some of the meaning of Jesus’ illustration about the wine. Some sample footnotes are:

Jesus was using a parable to talk about people who were content with the old ways and teaching of Jewish religion. He implied that they were unwilling to consider the new ways and teaching that he had brought.
-or-
Here old wine represents the old ways and teaching of the Jewish religion. New wine represents the new ways and teaching of Jesus. Jesus implied that people were unwilling to consider the news ways because they thought that the old ways were better.

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