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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comAdam Clarke Commentary - Matthew 9:16 - 9:16
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No man putteth a piece of new cloth - Ουδεις δε επιβαλλει επιβλημα ρακους αγναφου επι ιματιω παλαιω. No man putteth a patch of unscoured cloth upon an old garment. This is the most literal translation I can give of this verse, to convey its meaning to those who cannot consult the original. Ρακος αγναφον is that cloth which has not been scoured, or which has not passed under the hand of the fuller, who is called γναφευς in Greek: and επιβλημα signifies a piece put on, or what we commonly term a patch.
It - taketh from the garment - Instead of closing up the rent, it makes a larger, by tearing away with it the whole breadth of the cloth over which it was laid; αιρει γαρ το πληρωμα αυτου - it taketh its fullness or whole breadth from the garment; this I am persuaded is the meaning of the original, well expressed by the Latin, or Itala of the C. Bezae, Tollit enim plenitudo ejus de vestimento. “It takes away its fullness from the garment.”