New Testament · Gospel

Matthew 9:16

The Doctor for the Sick

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, and a worse tear will result. Matthew 9:16 · Berean Standard Bible
What It Means

Matthew 9:16, in plain English

You can't sew a new piece of unshrunk cloth onto old clothes. It will shrink and tear an even bigger hole.

Why it's here

Jesus is using everyday images to explain something revolutionary: what He's bringing doesn't patch the old system, it replaces it.

Who's speaking

Jesus, explaining why things are different now.

Where it sits in the story

This is Jesus' way of saying: 'I'm not here to fix the old way. I'm bringing something entirely new.'

A Closer Look

The scholarly reading

The first of two parables: unshrunk (agnaphos) cloth on an old garment causes a worse tear, illustrating that Jesus' new message cannot simply patch the old religious system.

Language and setting

Unshrunk cloth would shrink when washed and tear away from the old garment; the metaphor describes incompatibility between old and new.

Voice

Jesus, teaching through a garment parable.

Significance

This parable signals that Jesus' kingdom is not a repair of Judaism's existing structures but something fundamentally new.

In context

Matthew 9:14–18

14Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

15Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

16No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, and a worse tear will result.

17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

18While Jesus was saying these things, a synagogue leader came and knelt before Him. “My daughter has just died,” he said. “But come and place Your hand on her, and she will live.”

Read all of Matthew 9 — Jesus eats with sinners, forgives the paralyzed, and raises the dead. The religious leaders are horrified; the broken are set free.

Understand every verse, not just this one

This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.

Get BibleKey

Understand every verse.

Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.

Download on the App Store

Free on iPhone & iPad