Matthew 9:16
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
No man puts a piece of new cloth to an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment, and the rent is made worse.
American King James Version (AKJV)
No man puts a piece of new cloth to an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment, and the rent is made worse.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And no man puts a bit of new cloth on an old coat, for by pulling away from the old, it makes a worse hole.
Webster's Revision
No man putteth a piece of new cloth to an old garment: for that which is put in to fill it up, taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.
World English Bible
No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made.
Definitions for Matthew 9:16
Clarke's Matthew 9:16 Bible Commentary
No man putteth a piece of new cloth - Ουδεις δε επιβαλλει επιβλημα ρακους αγναφου επι ιματιω παλαιω. No man putteth a patch of unscoured cloth upon an old garment. This is the most literal translation I can give of this verse, to convey its meaning to those who cannot consult the original. Ρακος αγναφον is that cloth which has not been scoured, or which has not passed under the hand of the fuller, who is called γναφευς in Greek: and επιβλημα signifies a piece put on, or what we commonly term a patch.
It - taketh from the garment - Instead of closing up the rent, it makes a larger, by tearing away with it the whole breadth of the cloth over which it was laid; αιρει γαρ το πληρωμα αυτου - it taketh its fullness or whole breadth from the garment; this I am persuaded is the meaning of the original, well expressed by the Latin, or Itala of the C. Bezae, Tollit enim plenitudo ejus de vestimento. "It takes away its fullness from the garment."
Barnes's Matthew 9:16 Bible Commentary
No man putteth a piece of new cloth ... - A second illustration was drawn from a well-known fact, showing also that there was "a propriety or fitness of things." None of you, says he, in mending an old garment, would take a piece of entire new cloth.
There would be a waste in it. An old piece, or a piece like the garment, would be better. The word here translated "new," in the original means "rude, undressed, not fulled" by the cloth-dresser. In this state, if applied to an old garment, and if wet, it would "contract" and draw off a part of the garment to which it was attached, and thus make the rent worse than it was. So, says he, my "new" doctrines do not match with the old rites of the Pharisees. There is a fitness of things. Their doctrines require much fasting. In my system it would be incongruous; and if my new doctrines were to be attached to their old ones, it would only make the matter worse.
Wesley's Matthew 9:16 Bible Commentary
9:16 This is one reason, - It is not a proper time for them to fast. Another is, they are not ripe for it. New cloth - The words in the original properly signify cloth that hath not passed through the fuller's hands, and which is consequently much harsher than what has been washed and worn; and therefore yielding less than that, will tear away the edges to which it is sewed.