2 Peter 2:22

22 The [statement] of the true proverb has happened to them, "A dog returns to its own vomit," and "A sow, [after] washing herself, [returns] to wallowing in the mud."

2 Peter 2:22 Meaning and Commentary

2 Peter 2:22

But it is happened unto them, according to the true proverb,
&c.] Which is true, both in fact and in the application of it, and which lies in the Scriptures of truth, at least the first part of it, ( Proverbs 26:11 ) .

The dog [is] turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was
washed to her wallowing in the mire;
which expresses the filthy nature of sin, signified by vomit, mire, and dirt, than which nothing is more abominable and defiling; and also the just characters of these apostates, who are filly compared to dogs and swine and likewise their irreclaimable and irrecoverable state and condition, it being impossible they should be otherwise, unless their natures were changed and altered. In the Hebrew language, a "sow" is called (ryzx) , from the root (rzx) , which signifies to "return", because that creature, as soon as it is out of the mire and dirt, and is washed from its filthiness, naturally returns to it again: so such apostates return to what they were before, to their former principles and practices: in this manner the Jews explain the proverb,

``Tobiah returns to Tobiah, as it is said, ( Proverbs 26:11 ) ; as a dog returneth to his vomit ^F18.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Vajikra Rabba, sect. 16. fol. 158. 4.

2 Peter 2:22 In-Context

20 For if, [after they] have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these [things] [and] succumb to [them], the last [state] has become worse for them than the first.

21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known [it], to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them.

22 The [statement] of the true proverb has happened to them, "A dog returns to its own vomit," and "A sow, [after] washing herself, [returns] to wallowing in the mud."

Footnotes

• [a]. A paraphrased quotation from Prov 26:11
• [b]. *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("washing herself") which is understood as temporal
• [c]. *The verb "[returns]" is not in the Greek text, but is an understood repetition from the previous clause
• [d]. The source of this quotation is uncertain