Matthew 9:17 is a verse in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Content In the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort this verse is: Οὐδὲ βάλλουσιν οἶνον νέον εἰς ἀσκοὺς παλαιούς· εἰ δὲ μήγε, ῥήγνυνται οἱ ἀσκοί, καὶ ὁ οἶνος ἐκχεῖται, καὶ οἱ ἀσκοὶ ἀπολοῦνται· ἀλλὰ βάλλουσιν οἶνον νέον εἰς ἀσκοὺς καινούς, καὶ ἀμφότερα συντηροῦνται. In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. The New International Version translates the passage as: Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." Analysis Lapide notes that Christ shows three different reasons why the disciples should not be fasting when He is present: By 1) the parable of the Spouse and the wedding, 2) the old and new garment, 3) the new wine, and the old wineskins. According to MacEvilly and Witham the sense of the parable is: As new wine, owing to the force of its fermentation bursts old skins, since they are worn and weak, loses both the wine and the skins; therefore new wine must be poured into new skins. So also new austerities and fasts should not be imposed at this time on the disciples, lest their spirits should be broken, and they forsake Christ. However they are renewed with the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. Commentary from the Church Fathers Saint Remigius: " After two comparisons made, that of the wedding, and that of the undressed cloth, He adds a third concerning wine skins; Neither do men put new wine into old skins. By the old skins He means His disciples, who were not yet perfectly renewed. The new wine is the fulness of the Holy Spirit, and the depths of the heavenly mysteries, which His disciples could not then bear; but after the resurrection they became as new skins, and were filled with new wine when they received the Holy Spirit into their hearts. Whence also some said, These men are full of new wine. (Acts 2:13.)" Chrysostom: " Herein He also shows us the cause