Matthew 15:27

27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

Matthew 15:27 in Other Translations

27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

27 She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”

27 She was quick: "You're right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master's table."

27 But she said, Yea, Lord: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

27 She said, "You're right, Lord. But even the dogs eat scraps that fall from their masters' tables."

27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table!"

27 "Yes, Lord," she said. "But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their owners' table."

Matthew 15:27 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 15:27

And she saith, truth, Lord
She owns all that he had said to be true, that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: that she was indeed but a dog, a poor sinful creature, and unworthy of any favour; and that it was not right and fitting that all the children's bread should be taken from them and given to dogs:

yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
The Syriac and Persic versions add "and live": thus she wisely lays hold upon and improves in a very beautiful manner, in her own favour, what seemed to be so much against her. It is observed ^F17 of the Syrophoenicians in general, that they have all, in their common talk, something (hdu kai kecarismenon) "pleasant and graceful", as there is indeed in this smart reply of her's, who was one of that people. She suggests that though the Gentiles were but dogs, and she one of them; yet their common Lord and Master had a propriety in them, and they in him; and were to be maintained and fed, and ought to live, though not in such fulness of favours and blessings, as the Jews, the children of God: nor did she desire their affluence, only that a crumb of mercy might be given her, that her poor daughter might be healed; which was but a small favour, in comparison of the numerous ones he heaped upon the children, the Jews: nor would this be any more detrimental to them, than it is to the children, for the dogs, under the table, to eat of the crumbs that fall.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 Eunapius in Vita Libanii.

Matthew 15:27 In-Context

25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down.