22Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
The Greek that is translated as “wineskins” in most English translations is translated in Guhu-Samane as “gourds.”
“Wineskins” caused “puzzlement [because] why would one put wine or any liquid into the skin of an animal since the skins just rot quickly? [But] it is conceded that a person wishing to store a liquid (wine or other) would not choose an old, but a new gourd. The people here are familiar with wine in the Eucharist and can readily conceive of how wine (literally ‘strong water’) could burst an old gourd and as such the argument is not lost.” (Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. .)
In Matumbi it is also translated as “gourd” (mapu’tu’), which just like wineskins become less flexible the older they are, and the verb associated with its breaking (“rip” in English) was translated as “burst.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is rendered as Lederschläuche or “skins.”
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are translated as “wine” in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “grape juice pressed long ago (= fermented)” or “strong water” (source: Daud Soesilo). In Guhu-Samane it is also translated as “strong water” (source: Ernest L. Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. ), in Noongar as “liquor” (verbatim: “strong water”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Hausa as ruwan inabi or “water of grapes” (with no indication whether it’s alcoholic or not — source: Mark A. Gaddis), in sar as kasə nduú or “grape drink” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin), or in Papantla Totonac and Coyutla Totonac as “a drink like Pulque” (for “Pulque,” see here ) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ).
In Swahili, Bible translations try to avoid local words for alcoholic drinks, because “drinking of any alcohol at all was one of the sins most denounced by early missionaries. Hence translators are uncomfortable by the occurrences of wine in the Bible. Some of the established churches which use wine prefer to see church wine as holy, and would not refer to it by the local names used for alcoholic drinks. Instead church wine is often referred to by terms borrowed from other languages, divai (from German, der Wein) or vini/mvinyo (from ltalian/Latin vino/vinum). Several translations done by Protestants have adapted the Swahili divai for ‘wine,’ while those done by Catholics use vini or mvinyo.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 221ff. )
The Swahili divai was in turn borrowed by Sabaot and was turned into tifaayiik and is used as such in the Bible. Kupsabiny, on the other hand, borrowed mvinyo from Swahili and turned it into Finyonik. (Source: Iver Larsen)
In Nyamwezi, two terms are used. Malwa ga muzabibu is a kind of alcohol that people specifically use to get drunk (such as in Genesis 9:21) and ki’neneko is used for a wine made from grapes (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In some Hindi translations (such as the Common Language version, publ. 2015 ), one term (dākharasa दाखरस — grape juice) is used when that particular drink is in the focus (such as in John 2) and another term (madirā मदिरा — “alcohol” or “liquor”) when drunkenness is in the focus (such as in Eph. 5:18).
In Mandarin Chinese, the generic term jiǔ (酒) or “alcohol(ic drink)” is typically used. Exceptions are Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deuteronomy 29:6, Judges 13:4 et al., 1 Samuel 1:15, and Luke 1:15 where a differentiation between weak and strong alcohol is needed. The Mandarin Chinese Union Version (2010) translates that as qīngjiǔ lièjiǔ (清酒烈酒) and dànjiǔ lièjiǔ (淡酒烈酒), both in the form of a Chinese proverb and meaning “light alcohol and strong drink.” (Source: Zetzsche)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about wine in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
— These are the disciples of John the messenger. And these are the disciples of the Pharisees. They are fasting, refusing to eat, are hungry and sorrowful.
Jesus said:
— Now I am going to explain this to you. I’m going to give you three examples.
The first example. If there is a feast, a feast, a wedding, and the bridegroom has come, will the assembled guests refuse to eat? Will they fast? Will they grieve? Of course not! All together they will rejoice. But when the bridegroom leaves, when the guests see the bridegroom gone, then they will refuse to eat, they will fast and be sad.
Second example. Here are clothes that are worn out, all old, shabby, worn out, with holes, are we really going to sew a patch of new cloth to these old clothes? No one would do that. And if we sew a patch of new fabric, the old clothes will tear even more.
Third example. Here is a wine bag made from skins. This is an old bag. New wine is not poured into such a bag. And if you pour new wine into such an old bag of skins, the bag will burst and all the wine will spill out. Therefore, new wine is poured into new wine bags.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Некоторые люди обратились к Иисусу и спросили:
— Есть ученики вестника Иоанна. Вот ученики фарисеев. Они постятся, отказываются от еды, испытывают голод и находятся в печали. Твои ученики почему не постятся?
Иисус сказал:
— Сейчас я вам объясню. Я расскажу вам три примера.
Первый пример. Если сегодня торжество, праздник, свадьба, и пришел жених, разве гости, которые собрались, будут отказываться от еды? поститься? печалиться? Конечно же, нет! Все вместе они будут радоваться. Но когда жениха не станет, когда гости увидят, что жениха нет, тогда они откажутся от еды, будут поститься и печалиться.
Второй пример. Вот одежда износилась, вся старая, ветхая, потертая, с дырками, разве мы будем к этой старой одежде пришивать заплатку из новой ткани? Так никто не делает. А если пришить заплату из новой ткани, то тогда старая одежда порвется еще хуже.
Третий пример. Вот мешок для вина из шкур. Это старый мешок. В такой мешок не наливают молодого вина. А если налить молодое вино в такой старый мешок из шкур, то мешок лопнет и все вино выльется. Поэтому молодое вино наливают в новые мешки для вина.
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Algunas personas fueron y dijeron a Jesús: “Hoy vimos que los discípulos de Juan el Bautista ayunan, y también los fariseos ayunan, pero tus discípulos no ayunan, ¿porqué?”
Jesús dijo: “Mira, les doy ejemplos, como idea. Primero: Yo soy el novio, y tengo la fiesta de la body, los invitados comen y beben, ¿pueden decir ‘no gracias, estoy ayunando?’ No es posible, es normal que comen juntos. Cuando en el futuro la gente me arresten y ellos no entienden lo que pasa y están decepcionados van a decir ‘no gracias, estoy ayunando’. ¿Correcto?
Segundo: Si tienes ropa vieja y rota con un ollo, y se corta un pedazo de otra ropa nueva y se lo cose sobre el ollo… uds saben que eso es absurdo. Se lava la ropa y después la ropa rompe y el parche se cae y resulta peor, ¿correcto?
Tercero: Uds conocen los cueros de piel para beber. Yo les pregunto, un cuero viejo que se dejó por mucho tiempo ¿puedes verter vino nuevo, de hoy, adentro? No se puede, uds saben que el cuero se reventará. A fuerzas es necesario tener cueros nuevos para ponerlos vino, y queda bien. Si los dos son iguales, ambos nuevos, está bien. ¿Correcto?”
Some people went and said to Jesus: “We saw today that the disciples of John the Baptist fast, and also the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast, why is that?”
Jesus said: “Look, I will give examples, as an idea. Firstly: I am the bridegroom and I have a wedding party. The people invited eat and drink. Can they say: ‘no thanks, I am fasting?’ Impossible, it is normal that they eat together. In the future when I get arrested and they don’t understand what’s happening and they are disappointed, then they will say ‘no thank you, I am fasting.’ Right?
“Secondly: If you have some old, broken piece of clothing with a hole in it, and you cut out a piece of material from a new item of clothing and sew it onto the hole….you know that that’s absurd. When you wash the clothes it will break and the patch will fall off and it will turn out worse, right?
“Thirdly: You know the sacks that you drink from, made out of leather. I ask you, an old sack that has been left for a long time, can you pour today’s new wine into it? No you cannot, you know that the sack will burst open. You must have new sacks to pour wine into, and then it will be allright. If both are the same, both are new, it will work, right?”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 2:22:
Uma: “So also there is no person who pours new wine into an old container. Because when it ferments that old container will just break, with the result that the wine is spilled, and the container is wasted. So new wine must be put into a container that is also new.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa also compared his teaching with new grape juice that is filled into bags of goat hide. He said, ‘Nobody puts new grape juice that is still bubbling/fermenting, into an old bag. For if he does that, the bag will be split by the grape juice. Then the grape juice spills and the bag is destroyed. Instead new grape juice should be put into new bags.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The same way with wine which has just been made and put into goatskin containers. You cannot put it into old containers because the container will burst and the wine will pour out and the container will also be ruined. It is necessary for wine which has just been made to be put into new containers.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Nor does anyone of-course put recently-yeasted grape juice in a dried-up leather bag, because when it ferments, the leather will crack-open and the bag will be ruined while-simultaneously the grape juice will also be thrown-away. Recently-yeasted grape juice then, it must be new leather in which it is placed.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, no-one also puts new drink into an already old container made of skin which no longer gives. For if like that is done, when the drink ferments/matures, of course it will cause that container to burst. Well, isn’t is so that the drink and the container will be wasted. What is good to put new into is new also, not old.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Chuj: 2Also no one puts new wine, wine which is still in the process of expanding, into on old animal-skin wine container. That skin will rip, because the wine is still in the process of expanding. Then that wine will spill out, and the skin will be torn apart because of it. But new wine is put into new skin only.”
Choapan Zapotec: “No one pours new liquor into cracked bottles. If people pour it into cracked bottles, its heat will break them. Both will be destroyed. It is necessary for people to pour new liquor into good bottles, and not into old, cracked bottles.” (Source for this and above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
After (second) ho oinos ‘the wine’ Textus Receptus adds ho neos ‘new’: all modern editions of the Greek text reject this addition.
Instead of kai ho oinos apollutai kai hoi askoi ‘and the wine is lost and the skins also’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus (from the parallels Mt. 9.17, Lk. 5.37) has kai ho oinos ekcheitai kai hoi askoi apolountai ‘and the wine is poured out and the wineskins are ruined.’
After the last words askous kainous ‘fresh skins’ Textus Receptus adds blēteon (from the parallel Lk. 5.38) ‘must be put’: all modern editions of the Greek text reject this addition.
Exegesis:
ballei (some 17 times in Mark) here in the sense of ‘place,’ ‘put,’ ‘pour’: Moulton & Milligan illustrate from the papyri this unemphatic use of the verb.
oinon neon ‘new wine,’ i.e. still fermenting. On neos ‘new’ as distinguished from kainos ‘new’ see 1.27 and reff.
askous palaious ‘old wineskins’ (King James Version ‘bottles’ is quite misleading today).
askos ‘a leather bag,’ particularly a wineskin .
palaios ‘old’ has here the same meaning as in the previous verse; an “old wineskin” is one which has long been used and lost its elasticity, being unable to expand with the fermenting wine.
eis ‘into’: instead of Revised Standard Version “new wine is for fresh skins,” it is probably better to translate ‘new wine (is to be poured) into fresh skins.’
Translation:
The generic negative expression used to introduce verse 21 should also be used in the parallel construction in verse 22.
In the selection of a term for wine in this passage it is essential that in so far as possible the concept of fermentation be present or at least understandable in the context. For that reason, for example, most translations in central Africa have used the local equivalent of palm wine, in which the processes of fermentation are well-known. Some missionaries have, however, insisted on the use of a borrowed word which would be more likely to relate the meaning to the foreign product, which may be known but rarely consumed by the local population, e.g. ‘drink called vin’ (or ‘wain’ or ‘vino,’ depending upon the source of the borrowing). There may be special reasons for the choice of a nonindigenous term for wine in other contexts, but for this particular passage it would seem that a well-known local product would be considerably more meaningful than any foreign one. New wine may be rendered as ‘wine beginning to ferment.’
Wineskins are variously described as ‘leather containers for wine’ (Southern Subanen), ‘bottle-like objects made of leather for wine,’ ‘animal skins used as containers for wine,’ and ‘animal skins into which wine is poured, to be kept.’ Toraja-Sa’dan uses a loan word; Pamona has ‘goat-skin,’ and Javanese ‘bladder (of an ox).’
Old in this context should refer to ‘used’ or ‘worn out.’
As may be required, the ellipsis in if he does may be expanded (see verse 2.21).
In some languages different verbs must be used to describe what happens to the wine and the skins. For example, ‘the wine runs out and the skins are ruined’ or ‘the wine is lost and the skins are made useless.’
The last clause may be translated as ‘fermenting wine should be put into new skin containers.’
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 .
And: The Greek connector that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And introduces another illustration. Jesus gave this illustration to show again that he was teaching new things that did not fit the old traditions. Here are several possible ways to introduce this illustration.
• Use a quote introducer here. For example:
Then Jesus gave another example, saying, “And…”
• Introduce the illustration within the quote itself. For example:
Here is a similar example:
• Use a connector that indicates the similarity of this illustration with the one in 2:21. For example:
Likewise -or-
In a similar way
no one pours new wine into old wineskins: As in 2:21a, the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as no one introduces a general statement that is true of everyone. In some languages it may be natural to introduce this statement with a general word like “people” or with a pronoun like “you” or “they.” For example:
People also do not pour new wine into old wineskins. -or-
Similarly, you do not pour new wine into old wineskins.
See the note on Paragraph 2:22 for information about the meaning of this illustration.
pours: In the context, pours refers to putting wine into a container in order to store it there. There would be no harm in pouring new wine into old wineskins in order to drink it right away.
new wine into old wineskins: When new wine ferments, it produces gas. This builds up pressure and causes the wineskin to stretch or expand. New wine would be put into new skins because these could stretch. Old wineskins would have been stretched once before and so no longer would not be able to stretch any further.
new wine: The term new wine means wine that has been pressed recently from grapes and is not yet fermented (or is just beginning to ferment).
Here are some other ways to translate new wine:
wine that is only beginning to ferment -or-
still fermenting wine
wine: The word wine refers to alcoholic drink made from the juice of a fruit called grapes. When grape juice ferments, it becomes wine.
In some areas, people may not be familiar with grapes or with wine. If that is true in your area, here are some other ways to translate wine:
• Use a general term for an alcoholic drink.
• Use a specific term that can also be used to refer to alcoholic drinks in general. For example:
millet beer -or-
palm wine -or-
something like palm wine
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
fruit juice/water -or-
grape juice -or-
fermented grape juice
wineskins: The Jews used animal skins to make containers for storing their wine. (The most common animal skin that they used was goat.)
Wineskins are not common in many areas of the world. In many languages you may need to use a descriptive phrase. For example:
wine containers made of goat skin -or-
leather bags for storing wine
In some cultures people do not use animal skins to store wine. They may not understand the reason that people did not put new wine in old skins. If that is true in your culture, consider explaining this in a footnote. For example:
Wineskins were made out of whole goat hides that had the neck and feet openings tied shut. New wineskins were able to expand as the wine fermented, but old wineskins were no longer able to expand.
2:22b
If he does: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as If he does was also used in 2:21b in a slightly shorter form. See the note on 2:21b. Here it introduces the result of doing what 2:22a indicated that no one normally does. Use a natural connector in your language for this context.
the wine will burst the skins: The verb will burst here means “will break.” It is implied that the wine will expand or ferment and then cause the skins to burst. The Contemporary English Version makes this implied information explicit:
The wine would swell and burst the old skins. (Contemporary English Version)
You may need to make this information explicit in your language.
2:22c
both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined: This clause expresses the final bad result of 2:22a–b: no one would be able to use either the wine or the wineskins again. They would both be spoiled. In order to avoid this result, people do not put new wine into old wineskins.
2:22d
In this part of the verse Jesus gave the conclusion to his illustration in this verse. In the metaphor, new wine represents Jesus’ power and the new way of living that he was teaching. The new wineskins represent new traditions, that is, new ways of thinking and acting. Jesus’ new teaching must go along with new ways of thinking and acting.
Instead: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Instead introduces a contrast between 2:22c and 2:22d. In 2:22c Jesus described what people do not do, but in 2:22d he described what people do and should do.
Here are some ways other English versions translate the conjunction:
But (New Century Version) -or-
No, (New International Version) -or-
Rather (God’s Word)
Express the connection in a natural way in your language.
new wine is poured into new wineskins: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as new wine is poured into new wineskins supplies the passive phrase is poured, while the Greek has the elliptical phrase, “new wine into new wineskins.” It implies that someone poured the new wine into new wineskins. In some languages it may be necessary to make this verb active and provide a subject. If that is true in your language, it is best to use a general subject. For example:
people pour new wine into new wineskins -or- people must put new wine into fresh skins.
The sentence that the Berean Standard Bible translates as new wine is poured into new wineskins is another statement that is true for everyone. Be sure that your translation of this sentence fits with the way you translated 2:22a–c.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. (Good News Bible) -or-
But you should pour new wine into new wineskins.
General Comment on 2:22a–d
In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit some of the meaning of Jesus’ illustration about the wine skins. Here is one suggestion:
Mixing my teaching with the old traditions is like putting unfermented wine into old, dry goatskin containers. People do not do that because they know that when the wine ferments and expands, the containers will not be able to expand, and thus burst. The result is that both the wine is lost and the wineskin is ruined. People know that new wine must be put into new goatskins that won’t break. In the same way, you should not mix my teaching with the old traditions.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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