Texts in Conversation
Mark 2 uses the image of new wine bursting old wineskins to describe the need for renewal, a metaphor that echoes Job 32 where pent-up words are compared to new wine about to burst skins. The Aramaic translation in Targum Job sharpens the parallel by making the belly itself like new wine.
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Job 32:19
Hebrew Bible
17 I too will answer my part; I too will explain what I know. 18 For I am full of words, and the spirit within me constrains me. 19 Inside I am like wine that has no outlet, like new wineskins ready to burst! 20 I will speak, so that I may find relief; I will open my lips, so that I may answer. 21 I will not show partiality to any person, nor will I confer a title on anyone.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Mark 2:22
New Testament
20 But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and at that time they will fast. 21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be destroyed. Instead new wine is poured into new wineskins.” 23 Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat as they made their way. 24 So the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?”
Date: 60-75 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Jesus’ metaphorical saying about new wine bursting old wineskins (Mark 2:22) coheres with Job 32:19: ‘My heart is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.’ The Job Targum parallels it even more closely: ‘My belly is like new wine’ (Targum Job 32:19, with the distinctive element of the Targum emphasized) ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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