What Does Matthew 9:17 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
A vessel is measured by whether it can hold what is new without losing either the contents or itself.
THE MEANING
This verse names what happens when the container cannot hold what it receives: the skins rupture, the wine spills, and the skins are lost. When the vessel fits the wine, both are kept safe together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an old form can remain unchanged while safely holding what has become new.
THE ROOT
συντηροῦνται
syntērountai
GROWS FROM
τηρέω (tēreō), with συν- (syn-, with)
Keep, guard, watch over.
The word for “preserved” is built from syn, “with,” and tēreō, “keep”: the wine and the skins are kept together. The measure of a sound vessel is not simply that it lasts, but that it holds both contents and container safe.
ALSO GROWS
tēreō: Keep, guard, observe.
τηρέω
This is the base verb; John 17:12 uses it for keeping what is entrusted.
tērēsis: Keeping, custody, observance.
τήρησις
This related noun carries the idea of something held in care, illuminating what happens when both wine and skins are preserved.
ἀπόλλυνται
apollyntai
GROWS FROM
ἀπόλλυμι
apollymi
Perish, be destroyed, be lost.
The verb translated “perish” also carries the sense of being lost. The verse shows both outcomes: the skins are ruined, and the wine runs out and is lost.
ALSO GROWS
apōleia: Loss, ruin, destruction.
ἀπώλεια
This related noun makes clear that “perishing” includes the loss of what can no longer be kept.
apolōlōs: Lost, perished.
ἀπολωλώς
This related form describes what has gone missing or been ruined, echoing the wine that spills away.
νέον
neón
GROWS FROM
νέος
neos
Young, recent, new.
Greek uses two different words that English renders “new”: νέον (neón, young or recent) for the wine, and καινούς (kainoús, fresh or new in condition) for the skins. The wording pairs young wine with a vessel made new in condition, a distinction English smooths over.
ALSO GROWS
neotēs: Youth.
νεότης
This word from the same root names the quality of being young, clarifying the sense of νέον as young wine.
neōteros: Younger, more recent.
νεώτερος
This related form retains the root’s sense of youth or recency, which distinguishes the wine’s newness from the skins’ new condition.
THE PATTERN
What is coming forth in a new form needs a vessel suited to it, or the strain brings loss.
Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:THE THREAD
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.John uses tēreō (“keep”) for “I have kept” and apollymi (“be lost”) for “none of them is lost”, the same root families behind Matthew’s “preserved” and “perish.” The two verses set keeping and loss side by side: here, the fitting vessel keeps the wine and skins together.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us