Text:

Instead of ap’ autou ‘from it’ of most modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has autou ‘of it’ (with considerable change in syntax and meaning; instead of Revised Standard Version, above, the Textus Receptus would be translated ‘its new patch takes away from the old’); Kilpatrick changes the word order to airei ap’ autou to plērōma to kainon apo tou palaiou “the new patch takes away some of the old cloth” (Translator’s New Testament).

Exegesis:

epiblēma (only here in Mark) literally ‘something placed upon,’ i.e. ‘a cover,’ ‘a patch’ (cf. Abbott-Smith).

rakous agnaphou ‘of unshrunk cloth.’

rakos (only here and in Mt. 9.16 in the N.T.) ‘a rag,’ ‘remnant,’ ‘piece of cloth’ (cf. Moulton & Milligan).

agnaphos (only here and in Mt. 9.16 in the N.T.) ‘unshrunk,’ ‘uncarded,’ ‘not fulled’ (i.e. not treated by the gnapheus ‘the fuller’): the new, unbleached cloth would shrink considerably with the first washing. Moulton & Milligan quote a papyrus which refers to kitōna agnaphon leukon ‘a new white shirt.’

epiraptei (only here in N.T.) ‘sews on,’ ‘sews upon.’

himation palaion ‘old garment.’

himation (5.27, 28, 30; 6.56; 9.3; 10.50; 11.7, 8; 13.16; 15.20, 24) ‘cloak,’ ‘garment,’ ‘clothes’ (in the plural): as distinguished from the inner garment chitōn (6.9; 14.63) ‘tunic,’ the himation is ‘mantle,’ ‘cloak’; when used generally, as here, it means simply ‘garment.’

palaion (2.22) ‘old’: not simply with reference to time, but to usage, ‘worn’ by use.

ei de mē ‘but if not,’ ‘otherwise’: these words (actually a negative clause) negate the (negative) statement ‘no one sews’ and therefore have an affirmative meaning: ‘but should he (contrary to the statement) sew….’

airei to plērōma ap’ autou to kainon tou palaiou ‘the fullness takes (away) from it, the new from the old’: most translations give some such meaning as this to these words, the last four words to kainon tou palaiou ‘the new from the old’ standing as an additional explanation of the first clause.

airō ‘take away,’ ‘remove’: the verb requires a direct object and in this verse it will be something like ‘takes away some (of the old garment),’ ‘removes part (of the old)’; cf. Translator’s New Testament “the new patch takes away some of the old cloth”; Revised Standard Version “tears away” (meaning ‘comes loose,’ ‘tears off’), is not supported by usage of the Greek verb airō.

to plērōma (6.43; 8.20) ‘that which fills’ in the sense of a supplement, a complement (here obviously equivalent to epiblēma ‘a patch’ of the previous clause). As the subject of airei ‘removes’ the word is in the nominative case, being translated ‘the patch removes (part)….’

ap’ autou ‘from it,’ i.e. from the old garment.

to kainon tou palaiou ‘the new (patch) from the old (garment)’: an additional clause which explains the previous one.

kai cheiron schisma ginetai ‘and a worse tear results.’

cheiron ‘worse’: the comparative form of kakos ‘bad’; here ‘worse’ than the original tear the patch was supposed to mend.

schisma (only here in Mark) ‘tear,’ ‘crack,’ ‘rent’ (cf. the verb schizō ‘to tear’ in 1.10).

ginetai ‘takes place,’ ‘happens,’ ‘results.’

The meaning of the text as it stands is accurately conveyed by Revised Standard Version (with exception of airei ‘removes’ as seen above); cf. Translator’s New Testament: “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on to an old garment, otherwise the new patch takes away some of the old cloth, and the rent becomes worse.”

Translation:

The basic difficulty of this verse in many languages is that it poses a seemingly insurmountable problem in intelligibility for the reader, not by virtue of any words used but because of the idea expressed, something which is so entirely contrary to what happens in so many parts of the world. The idea that one would even hesitate to sew a new, unshrunk piece of cloth on an old garment seems almost incredible to many people, for as one may observe in many regions of the world there are garments so patched that it is not always easy (in fact, at times very difficult) to determine what was the cloth of the original garment. Nevertheless, despite the problems of understanding, as posed by the cultural diversities, the only thing which we may do is to translate, leaving the matter of cultural discrepancies to explanation, whether oral or written.

The use of no one is a means of introducing a generic negative. However, in some languages, the equivalent is ‘we (incl.) do not…’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui), ‘you do not…’ (Tzeltal), ‘people do not…,’ or ‘they do not….’

Unshrunk may be translated as ‘unwashed’ (Amganad Ifugao, Southern Subanen) or ‘entirely new’ (Barrow Eskimo, Indonesian, Javanese). Most people are well aware of the effects of cloth which has not been shrunk by the process of washing, and hence there is generally little difficulty at this point. The best way to find the appropriate vocabulary is to spend time observing proficient seamstresses, and finding out how they would describe such processes as sewing, ripping, shrinking, etc.

If he does may in some instances require expansion, e.g. ‘if one does sew on such a patch.’ (Note the generic English pronoun he, a purely grammatical relationship.)

The patch may be variously rendered, depending upon the degree of description required or the usage of the receptor language, e.g. ‘the cloth that was sewn on,’ ‘the small piece of cloth,’ or ‘the cloth that was added.’ It is ‘this new cloth which tears away some of the cloth of the old garment, thus making the hole bigger’ (Barrow Eskimo).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .