"a leather bottle, wineskin," occurs in Matthew 9:17 (four times); Mark 2:22 (four times); Luke 5:37 (three times),38; in each place, RV, "wineskins" or "skins," for AV, "bottles." A whole goatskin, for example, would be used with the apertures bound up, and when filled, tied at the neck. They were tanned with acacia bark and left hairy on the outside. New wines, by fermenting, would rend old skins (cp. Joshua 9:13; Job 32:19 ). Hung in the smoke to dry, the skin-bottles become shriveled (see Psalm 119:83 ).
Note: For "(a girdle) of a skin," Mark 1:6 , see LEATHERN.