Font Size
Mark 2:18-22
Contemporary English Version
Mark 2:18-22
Contemporary English Version
People Ask about Going without Eating
(Matthew 9.14-17; Luke 5.33-39)
18 The followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees often went without eating.[a] Some people came and asked Jesus, “Why do the followers of John and those of the Pharisees often go without eating, while your disciples never do?”
19 Jesus answered:
The friends of a bridegroom don't go without eating while he is still with them. 20 But the time will come when he will be taken from them. Then they will go without eating.
21 No one patches old clothes by sewing on a piece of new cloth. The new piece would shrink and tear a bigger hole.
22 No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The wine would swell and burst the old skins.[b] Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. New wine must be put into new wineskins.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2.18 without eating: The Jewish people sometimes went without eating (also called “fasting”) to show their love for God or to show sorrow for their sins.
- 2.22 swell and burst the old skins: While the juice from grapes was becoming wine, it would swell and stretch the skins in which it had been stored. If the skins were old and stiff, they would burst.
Mark 2:18-22
New International Version
Mark 2:18-22
New International Version
Jesus Questioned About Fasting(A)
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.(B) Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them,(C) and on that day they will fast.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.