The Meaning of Matthew 9:17 Explained

Matthew 9:17

KJV: Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

YLT: Nor do they put new wine into old skins, and if not -- the skins burst, and the wine doth run out, and the skins are destroyed, but they put new wine into new skins, and both are preserved together.'

Darby: Nor do men put new wine into old skins, otherwise the skins burst and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into new skins, and both are preserved together.

ASV: 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.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Neither  do men put  new  wine  into  old  bottles:  else  the bottles  break,  and  the wine  runneth out,  and  the bottles  perish:  but  they put  new  wine  into  new  bottles,  and  both  are preserved. 

What does Matthew 9:17 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 9:9-17 - The Friend Of Sinners
The name Levi indicates that Matthew sprang from a priestly line. He had lost all self-respect to become the abhorred instrument of the Roman government, collecting dues on the merchandise that crossed the lake. But our Lord sees veins of gold and precious gems in most unlikely places, and He detected the apostle and evangelist in this despised publican.
Wherever a man is found by Christ, He sets Himself to find others, and the Lord is willing to co-operate in any effort to bring others to know Him. He will sit with perfect grace among publicans and sinners, lifting them to His own pure and holy level. He is always to be found where there are sin-sick souls; and where hearts are famished for love and joy, He is with them as their bridegroom.
But the joy of Christ will make for itself its own impression. The ancient forms will not suffice. The old skin-bottle will not contain the ferment of the new wine. How wonderfully Christ could extract lessons from familiar objects! [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 9

1  Jesus heals a paralytic
9  calls Matthew from the receipt of custom;
10  eats with tax collectors and sinners;
14  defends his disciples for not fasting;
20  cures the sick woman;
23  raises Jairus' daughter from death;
27  gives sight to two blind men;
32  heals a mute man possessed of a demon;
36  and has compassion on the multitude

Greek Commentary for Matthew 9:17

Old wineskins [ασκους παλαιους]
Not glass “bottles” but wineskins used as bottles as is true in Palestine yet, goatskins with the rough part inside. “Our word bottle originally carried the true meaning, being a bottle of leather. In Spanish bota means a leather bottle, a boot, and a butt. In Spain wine is still brought to market in pig-skins “ (Vincent). The new wine will ferment and crack the dried-up old skins. [source]
The wine is spilled [εκχειται]
(εκχειται — ekcheitai), poured out.sa120 [source]
Bottles [ἀσκούς]
Rev., rightly, wine-skin,, though our word bottle originally carried the true meaning, being a bottle of leather. In Spanish, bota means a leather bottle, a boot, and a butt. In Spain wine is still brought to market in pig-skins. In the East, goat-skins are commonly used, with the rough side inward. When old, they break under the fermentation of the wine. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 9:17

Matthew 26:29 New [καινὸν]
Another adjective, νεόν , is employed to denote new wine in the sense of freshly-made (Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, Luke 5:38, Luke 5:39). The difference is between newness regarded in point of time or of quality. The young, for instance, who have lately sprung up, are νείοι , or νεώτεροι (Luke 15:12, Luke 15:13). The new garment (Luke 5:36) is contrasted as to quality with a worn and threadbare one. Hence καινοῦ . So a new heaven (2 Peter 3:13) is καινὸς , contrasted with that which shows signs of dissolution. The tomb in which the body of Jesus was laid was καινὸν (Matthew 27:60); in which no other body had lain, making it ceremonially unclean; not recently hewn. Trench (“Synonyms”) cites a passage from Polybius, relating a stratagem by which a town was nearly taken, and saying “we are still new ( καινοί ) and young ( νέοι ) in regard of such deceits.” Here καινοί expresses the inexperience of the men; νέοι , their youth. Still, the distinction cannot be pressed in all cases. Thus, 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new ( νέον ) lump;” and Colossians 3:10, “Put on the new ( νέον ) man,” plainly carry the sense of quality. In our Lord's expression, “drink it new,” the idea of quality is dominant. All the elements of festivity in the heavenly kingdom will be of a new and higher quality. In the New Testament, besides the two cases just cited, νέος is applied to wine, to the young, and once to a covenant. [source]
Mark 6:20 Observed him [συνετήρει]
A mistranslation. Rev., kept him safe. Peculiar to Mark. Compare Matthew 9:17, are preserved; Luke 2:19, kept; σύν , closely; τηρεῖν , to preserve or keep, as the result of guarding. See on John 17:12, and reserved, 1 Peter 1:4. [source]
Luke 5:37 Bottles [ἀσκοὺς]
Rev., wine-skins. See on Matthew 9:17. [source]
Colossians 3:9 Seeing that ye have put off [απεκδυσαμενοι]
First aorist middle participle (causal sense of the circumstantial participle) of the double compound verb απεκδυομαι — apekduomai for which see note on Colossians 2:15. The απο — apo has the perfective sense (wholly), “having stripped clean off.” The same metaphor as αποτεστε — apothesthe in Colossians 3:8. The old man (τον παλαιον αντρωπον — ton palaion anthrōpon). Here Paul brings in another metaphor (mixes his metaphors as he often does), that of the old life of sin regarded as “the ancient man” of sin already crucified (Romans 6:6) and dropped now once and for all as a mode of life (aorist tense). See same figure in Ephesians 4:22. Παλαιος — Palaios is ancient in contrast with νεος — neos (young, new) as in Matthew 9:17 or καινος — kainos (fresh, unused) as in Matthew 13:52. With his doings Practice must square with profession. [source]
Colossians 3:9 The old man [τον παλαιον αντρωπον]
Here Paul brings in another metaphor (mixes his metaphors as he often does), that of the old life of sin regarded as “the ancient man” of sin already crucified (Romans 6:6) and dropped now once and for all as a mode of life (aorist tense). See same figure in Ephesians 4:22. Παλαιος — Palaios is ancient in contrast with νεος — neos (young, new) as in Matthew 9:17 or καινος — kainos (fresh, unused) as in Matthew 13:52. [source]
1 John 2:7 Old [παλαιὰν]
Four words are used in the New Testament for old or elder. Of these γέρων and πρεσβύτερος refer merely to the age of men, or, the latter, to official position based primarily upon age. Hence the official term elder. Between the two others, ἀρχαῖος and παλαιός , the distinction is not sharply maintained. Ἁρχαῖος emphasizes the reaching back to a beginning ( ἀρχή ) Thus Satan is “that old ( ἀρχαῖος ) serpent,” whose evil work was coeval with the beginning of time (Revelation 7:9; Revelation 20:2). The world before the flood is “the old ( ἀρχαῖος ) world” (2 Peter 2:5). Mnason was “an old ( ἀρχαῖος ) disciple;” not aged, but having been a disciple from the beginning (Acts 21:16). Sophocles, in “Trachiniae,” 555, gives both words. “I had an old ( παλαιὸν ) gift,” i.e., received long ago, “from the old ( ἀρχαίου ) Centaur.” The Centaur is conceived as an old-world creature, belonging to a state of things which has passed away. It carries, therefore, the idea of old fashioned: peculiar to an obsolete state of things. Παλαιός carries the sense of worn out by time, injury, sorrow, or other causes. Thus the old garment (Matthew 9:16) is παλαιόν . So the old wine-skins (Matthew 9:17). The old men of a living generation compared with the young of the same generation are παλαιοί . In παλαιός the simple conception of time dominates. In ἀρχαῖος there is often a suggestion of a character answering to the remote age. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The commandment is here called old because it belonged to the first stage of the Christian church. Believers had had it from the beginning of their Christian faith. [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 9:17 mean?

Nor pour they wine new into wineskins old if now lest are burst the wineskins and the wine is poured out wineskins are destroyed But they pour new both are preserved
Οὐδὲ βάλλουσιν οἶνον νέον εἰς ἀσκοὺς παλαιούς εἰ δὲ μή¦γε ῥήγνυνται οἱ ἀσκοί καὶ οἶνος ἐκχεῖται ἀσκοὶ ἀπόλλυνται ἀλλὰ βάλλουσιν καινούς ἀμφότεροι συντηροῦνται

Οὐδὲ  Nor 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: οὐδέ  
Sense: but not, neither, nor, not even.
βάλλουσιν  pour  they 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: βάλλω 
Sense: to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls.
οἶνον  wine 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: οἶνος  
Sense: wine.
νέον  new 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: νέος  
Sense: recently born, young, youthful.
εἰς  into 
Parse: Preposition
Root: εἰς  
Sense: into, unto, to, towards, for, among.
ἀσκοὺς  wineskins 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀσκός  
Sense: a leathern bag or bottle, in which water or wine was kept.
παλαιούς  old 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: παλαιός  
Sense: old, ancient.
δὲ  now 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: δέ  
Sense: but, moreover, and, etc.
μή¦γε  lest 
Parse: Particle
Root: εἰ 
Sense: otherwise, but if not.
ῥήγνυνται  are  burst 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Plural
Root: ῥάσσω 
Sense: to rend, burst or break asunder, break up, break through.
ἀσκοί  wineskins 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀσκός  
Sense: a leathern bag or bottle, in which water or wine was kept.
οἶνος  wine 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: οἶνος  
Sense: wine.
ἐκχεῖται  is  poured  out 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐκχέω 
Sense: to pour out, shed forth.
ἀσκοὶ  wineskins 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀσκός  
Sense: a leathern bag or bottle, in which water or wine was kept.
ἀπόλλυνται  are  destroyed 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Plural
Root: ἀπόλλυμι  
Sense: to destroy.
βάλλουσιν  they  pour 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: βάλλω 
Sense: to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls.
καινούς  new 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: καινός  
Sense: new.
ἀμφότεροι  both 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀμφότεροι  
Sense: both of two, both the one and the other.
συντηροῦνται  are  preserved 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Plural
Root: συντηρέω  
Sense: to preserve (a thing from perishing or being lost).

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