Lukas 5:36

5:36 He also told them a parable: ¹  “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews ²  it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn ³  the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ⁴ 

[5:36]  ¹ sn The term parable in a Semitic context can cover anything from a long story to a brief wisdom saying. Here it is the latter.

[5:36]  ² tn Grk “puts”; but since the means of attachment would normally be sewing, the translation “sews” has been used.

[5:36]  ³ tn Grk “he tears.” The point is that the new garment will be ruined to repair an older, less valuable one.

[5:36]  ⁴ sn The piece from the new will not match the old. The imagery in this saying looks at the fact that what Jesus brings is so new that it cannot simply be combined with the old. To do so would be to destroy what is new and to put together something that does not fit.