Mark 2:22
What does Mark 2:22 mean?
A plain-English look at Mark 2:22 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Mark 2:22 means
Jesus continued with another analogy, stating that no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the fermenting new wine will burst the brittle old skins, ruining both the wine and the skins. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. This powerfully illustrates that the vibrant, expanding life and spiritual power of Jesus' New Covenant ministry cannot be contained by the rigid, inflexible systems of the Old Covenant. It demands a new order.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine perisheth, and the skins: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And 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.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine perisheth, and the skins: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins: or the skins will be burst by the wine, and the wine and the skins will be wasted: but new wine has to be put into new wine-skins.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and no one doth put new wine into old skins, and if not--the new wine doth burst the skins, and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but new wine into new skins is to be put.'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: otherwise the wine will burst the bottles, and both the wine will be spilled and the bottles will be lost. But new wine must be put into new bottles.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And no one puts new wine into old skins; otherwise the wine bursts the skins, and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but new wine is to be put into new skins.
Context
This verse presents the second parable, directly following the parable of the new cloth in verse 21. It further reinforces the message of incompatibility, using the vivid image of new wine and old wineskins to emphasize that Jesus' dynamic new teaching and Spirit cannot be contained by the old, inflexible religious forms. These two parables collectively explain why Jesus' disciples do not conform to previous religious practices like fasting, preparing yet another challenge to the Old Covenant's legalism.
v.21No man seweth a piece of undressed cloth on an old garment: else that which should fill it up taketh from it, the new from the old, and a worse rent is made.
v.22This passage
v.23And it came to pass, that he was going on the sabbath day through the grainfields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Job 32:19
Behold, my breast is as wine which hath no vent; Like new wine-skins it is ready to burst.
- Joshua 9:4
they also did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-skins, old and rent and bound up,
- Matthew 9:17
Neither do men put new wine into old wine-skins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both are preserved.
- Joshua 9:13
and these wine-skins, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they are rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.
- Psalms 119:83
For I am become like a wine-skin in the smoke; Yet do I not forget thy statutes.
- Luke 5:37
And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, and the skins will perish.
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