The Greek that is translated as “wineskins” in most English translations is translated in Guhu-Samane as “gourds.”
“Wineskins” caused “puzzlement [because] why would one put wine or any liquid into the skin of an animal since the skins just rot quickly? [But] it is conceded that a person wishing to store a liquid (wine or other) would not choose an old, but a new gourd. The people here are familiar with wine in the Eucharist and can readily conceive of how wine (literally ‘strong water’) could burst an old gourd and as such the argument is not lost.”
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are translated as “wine” in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “grape juice pressed long ago (= fermented)” or “strong water” (source: Daud Soesilo). In Guhu-Samane it is also translated as “strong water” (source: Ernest L. Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. ), in Noongar as “liquor” (verbatim: “strong water”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Hausa as ruwan inabi or “water of grapes” (with no indication whether it’s alcoholic or not — source: Mark A. Gaddis), or in Papantla Totonac and Coyutla Totonac as “a drink like Pulque” (for “Pulque,” see here ) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ).
In Swahili, Bible translations try to avoid local words for alcoholic drinks, because “drinking of any alcohol at all was one of the sins most denounced by early missionaries. Hence translators are uncomfortable by the occurrences of wine in the Bible. Some of the established churches which use wine prefer to see church wine as holy, and would not refer to it by the local names used for alcoholic drinks. Instead church wine is often referred to by terms borrowed from other languages, divai (from German, der Wein) or vini/mvinyo (from ltalian/Latin vino/vinum). Several translations done by Protestants have adapted the Swahili divai for ‘wine,’ while those done by Catholics use vini or mvinyo.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 221ff. )
The Swahili divai was in turn borrowed by Sabaot and was turned into tifaayiik and is used as such in the Bible. Kupsabiny, on the other hand, borrowed mvinyo from Swahili and turned it into Finyonik. (Source: Iver Larsen)
In Nyamwezi, two terms are used. Malwa ga muzabibu is a kind of alcohol that people specifically use to get drunk (such as in Genesis 9:21) and ki’neneko is used for a wine made from grapes (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In some Hindi translations (such as the Common Language version, publ. 2015 ), one term (dākharasa दाखरस — grape juice) is used when that particular drink is in the focus (such as in John 2) and another term (madirā मदिरा — “alcohol” or “liquor”) when drunkenness is in the focus (such as in Eph. 5:18).
In Mandarin Chinese, the generic term jiǔ (酒) or “alcohol(ic drink)” is typically used. Exceptions are Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deuteronomy 29:6, Judges 13:4 et al., 1 Samuel 1:15, and Luke 1:15 where a differentiation between weak and strong alcohol is needed. The Mandarin Chinese Union Version (2010) translates that as qīngjiǔ lièjiǔ (清酒烈酒) and dànjiǔ lièjiǔ (淡酒烈酒), both in the form of a Chinese proverb and meaning “light alcohol and strong drink.” (Source: Zetzsche)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about wine in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 5:37:
Noongar: “No! And people don’t put new liquor into an old skin bottle, because the new liquor will burst the bottles. Then the liquor will spill and the bottle will break.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “So also, no-one pours new wine into an old container. Because when it bubbles, that old container will just break, with the result that the wine spills, and the container also is wasted.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa also compared his teaching to new grape juice/water filled in bags of goat skin. He said, ‘No person fills new grape water which is still fermenting into old bags. For if he does so, the bag will be torn by the grape water. Then the grape water is spilled and the bag destroyed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the same way,’ says Jesus, ‘the wine which is newly made and put in a goatskin container — it’s not possible that it is put in an old container, because an old container will split and the wine will pour out, and the container will be destroyed also.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Neither of course does anyone put recently-yeasted grape juice in a dried-up leather bag, because when it ferments, the leather will crack-open and the bag will be ruined while-simultaneously the grape juice will also be thrown-away.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And also no-one puts new drink into an already old container made of skin, which no longer stretches/gives. For if like this is done, when the drink matures, of course it will cause the container to burst. Well, isn’t it so that the drink which was put in will be spilled and the container will be destroyed too?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
kai oudeis ballei oinon neon eis askous palaious ‘and nobody pours new wine into old wineskins.’ kai characterizes what follows as a continuation of the parabolē of v. 36. ballei is used here in the sense ‘to put’ or ‘to pour’ (of liquids, cf. Jn. 3.5; Mt. 26.12).
askos (also v. 38) ‘leather bag,’ ‘wineskin.’
rēxei ho oinos ho neos tous askous, kai autos ekchuthēsetai kai hoi askoi apolountai ‘the new wine will burst the wineskins, and he will be spilt and the wineskins will be lost.’ Of these three clauses the first stands apart, indicating an event of which the other two (which go closely together) describe the consequences, cf. “the new wine will burst the skins—the wine will be spilt and the skins ruined” (Phillips). kai autos refers to ‘the wine’ in contrast with the ‘wineskins’ mentioned in the next clause. rēgnumi.
ekcheō ‘to pour out,’ here in the passive ‘to be poured out,’ ‘to be spilled.’
Translation:
New … old, here in the sense of ‘young/fresh/beginning to ferment’ and ‘old/worn out/rotten,’ etc.; since the use of the more specific among these renderings would lessen, or even spoil, the synonymity with the pair in v. 36, they should only be employed where strictly necessary for reasons if idiom.
Wine, see also on 1.15.
Wineskins. May be added some cultural equivalents, i.e. ‘gourd,’ used in Guhu-Samane, or ‘bamboo tube (for storing palmwine),’ used in Batak Toba only in v. 38 (presumably because the wine is normally stored in new, not in old bamboo tubes), whereas in v. 37 the more generic word ‘container’ is preferred.
Will be spilled, or, ‘will run out,’ ‘will be wasted.’
Will be destroyed, or, ‘will be lost/ruined,’ ‘will go to pieces,’ ‘will become bad’ (Tae’).
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
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