The Scripture for Sunday - Shrunk and Old (Mark 2:21-22)

During the months of September, October and November, we'll discuss the following parables unique to the Gospel of Mark:

• September 22 - Shrunk and Old (Mark 2:21-22)
• September 29 - A Strong Man (Mark 3:23-27)
• October 6 - The Sower (Mark 4:1-20)
• October 13 - Lamps and Baskets (Mark 4:21-25)
• October 20 - A Growing Seed (Mark 4:26-29)
• October 27 - The Mustard Seed (Mark 4:30-32)
• November 3 - Clean and Unclean (Mark 7:14-23)
• November 10 - The Wicked Tenants (Mark 12:1-11)
• November 17 - The Fig Tree (Mark 13:28-31)

During the service on Sunday, September 22, we'll use Mark 2:21-22 to better understand that parables of the old clothes and wineskin. Below is the passage in three different translations:

Mark 2:21-22 [Contemporary English Version]

21 No one patches old clothes by sewing on a piece of new cloth. The new piece would shrink and tear a bigger hole.

22 No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The wine would swell and burst the old skins. [a] Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. New wine must be put into new wineskins.

Footnotes

[a] 2.22 swell and burst the old skins: While the juice from grapes was becoming wine, it would swell and stretch the skins in which it had been stored. If the skins were old and stiff, they would burst.

Mark 2:21-22 [New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition]

21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 Similarly, 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.” [a] 

Footnotes

[a] 2.22 Other ancient authorities lack but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins

Mark 2:21-22 [Amplified Bible]

21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk (new) cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. 22 No one puts new wine into old [a] wineskins; otherwise the [fermenting] wine will [expand and] burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the wineskins. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

Footnotes

 [a] Mark 2:22 See note Matt 9:17.