Ἔλεγεν δὲ καὶ παραβολὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὅτι Οὐδεὶς ἐπίβλημα ἀπὸ ἱματίου καινοῦ σχίσας ἐπιβάλλει ἐπὶ ἱμάτιον παλαιόν· εἰ δὲ μή γε, καὶ τὸ καινὸν σχίσει καὶ τῷ παλαιῷ οὐ συμφωνήσει τὸ ἐπίβλημα τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ καινοῦ.
36He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise, not only will one tear the new garment, but the piece from the new will not match the old garment.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated with “clothes” or similar in English is translated in Enlhet as “crawling-in-stuff” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ) and in Noongar as bwoka or “Kangaroo skin” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
See also cloth and cloak / shawl.
The Greek that is usually translated as “parable” in English is translated in other languages in a number of ways:
In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “tell-a-story” and “compare.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Parable” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as analogy because “the Greek word has the sense of tossing down something alongside something else. Hence an analogy.”
See also image and figures of speech.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 5:36:
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, hanas-are-ru (話される) or “speak” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Exegesis:
elegen de kai parabolēn pros autous ‘he also told them a parable,’ added by Luke (cf. Mk. 2.16) to clarify the nature of what follows. For parabolē cf. on 4.23; here the meaning is rather ‘illustration’ than ‘parable’ (cf. Phillips, Schonfield). autous still refers to the same people as in vv. 34, 33, 31, 30.
epiblēma (only here and Mk. 2.21 and Mt. 9.16, in the N.T.) ‘patch.’ Syntactically it is object of schisas and epiballei. In the present context epiblēma is best understood to refer to exemption from fasting and the parable means that this exemption should neither be taken away from Jesus disciples nor imposed upon John’s disciples.
apo himatiou hainou schisas lit. ‘after tearing (it) from a new garment.’
schizō (also 23.45) ‘to tear off,’ ‘to tear (apart).’
epiballei epi himation palaion ‘puts it on an old garment.’
epiballō ‘to lay (hands) on’ (cf. on 9.62); here ‘to put on.’ Luke uses this verb here instead of epiraptō ‘to sew on’ (Mk. 2.21), probably because of the alliteration with the formally related epiblēma.
ei de mēge lit. ‘if not,’ here, because of oudeis … epiballei, ‘if he does,’ with emphasis.
kai (to kainon) … kai (tō palaiō) lit. ‘and … and,’ here meaning, ‘not only … but,’ ‘(first kai not rendered) … as well as.’
to kainon schisei ‘he will both tear (apart) the new one.’ Subject is the person implied in oudeis.
tō palaiō (scil. himatiō) ou sumphōnēsei to epiblēma to apo tou kainou ‘with the old (garment) the patch from the new will not match.’ palaios also v. 39.
sumphōneō ‘to match (with).’
Translation:
Parable, or, ‘figure,’ ‘illustration,’ ‘lesson,’ when the usual rendering (see on 8.4) does not fit the context here.
Instead of Mark’s “no one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment” Luke has “no one tears a piece from a new garment”.
No one tears, or, ‘there is no man at all who tears’ (Shona 1963, similarly Batak Toba); ‘no one would tear’ (Tboli); or, using a pronoun in an indefinite sense, ‘we (inclus.) do not tear’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui), ‘you do not tear’ (Cuyono). In Tzeltal the more idiomatic rendering is, ‘it isn’t done to tear.’
Tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment. The second clause has final force, .’.. in order to put it….’ Piece stands here for ‘patch,’ i.e. ‘something that is (to be) sewn upon, or, added to’; hence, ‘takes/tears something-to-become a patch from a new garment to-be-made to patch-up an old’ (Javanese); this has the advantage of using a more expressive term, which also is more suitable in the second half of the verse. Other versions shift to, ‘tears up a new garment and puts a piece of it (or, what is torn from it) upon an old garment,’ or, leaving more to the good understanding of the receptors, ‘tears up a new garment and puts a piece of it (or, what is torn from it) upon an old garment,’ or, leaving more to the good understanding of the receptors, ‘tears up … and puts it upon…’ (cf. Marathi, Cuyono, Kituba, Tae,’ Batak Toba); thus the verb ‘to tear’ is used with approximately the same meaning as in the next sentence. — New … old refer to quality here, ‘fresh,’ ‘not (yet) used’ … ‘worn out,’ ‘used,’ ‘threadbare.’ For garment a generic term for a piece of clothing is meant. To put upon, or, ‘to apply to,’ ‘to be-used as means-to-patch-up’ (Balinese), or simply, ‘to patch up’ (Tboli, Tzeltal, Trukese).
If he does, elliptically stating the reverse case. Some versions echo the form of their rendering of “no one tears”, cf. e.g. ‘if that is what he would do’ (Tboli), ‘if you do this’ (Cuyono). Others use renderings such as, ‘otherwise’ (cf. Kituba, lit. ‘if not’), ‘on that case’ (Zarma), or replace the transitional phrase by a causative conjunction, cf. ‘because it is not only the new garment that he will tear…’ (Sranan Tongo, similarly Pohnpeian).
He will tear the new. Here the verb is used in the sense of ‘to tear up,’ ‘to make a hole in.’ Because the pronoun has an indefinite function a passive or medial construction may be preferable, e.g. ‘the new will be-torn-up/go-to-pieces/remain with a hole (in it)’ (Tae’; Batak Toba and Bahasa Indonesia; Tzeltal and Shona 1966).
The piece from the new, or, ‘the piece that is taken from the new’; or more briefly, ‘the new piece’ (Bahasa Indonesia, Batak Toba), ‘what-is-torn-off’ (Balinese).
Will not match, or, ‘will not be-the-same-as’ (Pohnpeian), ‘will not form one whole with,’ or in the affirmative, ‘will clash with’ (Bible de Jérusalem), ‘will deviate from’ (Javanese). Chuukeseuses a reciprocal form, ‘the new and the old will not agree-together.’
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
Paragraph 5:36–39
In this paragraph, Jesus used three short parables to explain that he was teaching a new way to live for God. His new way would not fit into the old traditions. People could not combine the old ways with the new. Each of the three parables is introduced with a general statement that is true of everyone.
5:36
In this verse Jesus compared his teaching to a new garment. He compared the traditions of the Jews to an old garment. No one uses a piece of cloth torn from the new garment to patch an old garment. In the same way, people should not simply add his teaching to their traditions.
5:36a
parable: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as parable is a general word that is used to describe different types of wise speech. This includes parables, proverbs, illustrations, metaphors, and wise sayings. Here, Jesus used the word to refer to a wise saying.
In this parable, Jesus compared his new way to live for God with a new garment. He compared the old traditions with an old garment.
You will need to read the three parables in 5:36–39 carefully. Then consider how you would describe this type of speech in your language. Some ways to translate parable in this context are:
• Use a specific term in your language that refers to this particular type of wise saying. For example:
symbolic saying/word
• Use a general term or descriptive phrase in your language that includes the different types of wise sayings. For example:
illustration (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
metaphor
-or-
comparison
See also parable in Key Biblical Terms.
5:36b
No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one: The word No one introduces a general statement. It says something that is true of everyone. In some languages it may be natural to introduce this statement with a general word such as “people” or with a pronoun such as “you” or “they.” For example:
People do not tear a patch from a new garment and sew it on an old one.
-or-
You don’t tear a piece off a new coat to patch up an old coat. (Good News Translation)
garment: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as garment means “clothing.” It can refer to any item of clothing a person wore, but sometimes it refers specifically to the outer robe that people wore. In this context, it probably refers generally to any piece of clothing.
5:36c
If he does: In Greek, this part of the verse begins with a phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as If he does. This phrase introduces the possibility of someone doing what was described in 5:36b (which no one actually ever does). It means, “If someone were to do this (which he would not)….”
Some other ways to translate this are:
The consequences of doing that would be…
-or-
Otherwise (New Century Version)
-or-
For then (New Living Translation (2004))
he will tear the new garment as well: If someone tears a patch from a new garment, he spoils or damages the new garment. This is a first undesirable result. Some other ways to translate this are:
he ruins the new coat (New Century Version)
-or-
he will have made a hole in the new garment (Revised English Bible)
5:36d
Verse 5:36d describes a second undesirable result of tearing a patch from a new garment to repair an old garment.
the patch from the new will not match the old: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the patch from the new will not match the old is literally “the patch from the new will not agree with the old.” This means that the piece of cloth taken from the new garment will not be like the material of old garment. It will be different in age. It will look different. It will feel different. The amount it has shrunk will be different. (See Matthew 9:16 and Mark 2:21.) Some ways to translate this are:
the cloth from the new coat will not be the same as the old cloth (New Century Version)
-or-
the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment (New Living Translation (2004))
patch: A patch is a small piece of cloth that someone sews over a hole or torn area of another cloth. It means the same thing as the phrase “piece of cloth” in 5:36b.
General Comment on 5:36a–d
You may want to add a footnote to explain some of the meaning of Jesus’ parable. Some sample footnotes are:
Jesus gave them this illustration to show what happens if his teaching is mixed with old traditions.
-or-
Jesus compared his teaching to a new garment. He compared the traditions of the Jews to an old garment. No one uses a piece of cloth torn from a new garment to patch an old garment. In the same way, people should not simply add his teaching to their old ways of life. His new way would not fit into the old traditions.
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