2nd Peter Chapter 2 verse 22 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 22. - But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb. The conjunction "but" is omitted in the best manuscripts. The literal translation is, "There hath happened unto them that of the true proverb (τὸ τῆς παροιμίας);" comp. Matthew 21:21, τὸ τῆς συκῆς. The dog is turned to his own vomit again. The construction is participial; literally, a dog having turned. See Wirier (3:45, 6, b), who says that in such proverbial expressions there is no reason for changing the participle into a finite verb: "They are spoken δεικτικῶς as it were, with reference to a case actually observed." St. Peter may be quoting Proverbs 26:11; but his words are very different from the Septuagint Version of that passage; perhaps it is more probable that the expression had become proverbial, and that the apostle is referring to a form of it in common use with his readers; like that which follows, which is not in the Book of Proverbs. And the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire; literally, the sow that had washed to her wallowing; or, according to some ancient manuscripts, "her wallowing-place." St. Peter compares the lives of the false teachers to the habits of those animals which were regarded as unclean, and were most despised by the Jews (compare our Lord's words in Matthew 7:6). The words ἐξέραμα, vomit; κυλισμός, wallowing; and βόρβορος, mire, are not found elsewhere in the New Testament.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(22) But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb.--More literally, There has happened to them what the true proverb says; "but" is of very doubtful authority. The word for "proverb" is the one used elsewhere only by St. John in his Gospel, and there translated once "parable" and thrice "proverb." "Parable," or "allegory," would have been best in all four cases (John 10:6, where see Note; John 16:25; John 16:29). The first proverb is found, Proverbs 26:11, and if that be the source of the quotation, we have here an independent translation of the Hebrew, for the LXX. gives an entirely different rendering, "dog" being the only word in common to the two Greek versions. The word for "vomit" here is possibly formed by the writer himself; that for "wallowing" is also a rare word. The LXX. adds, "and becomes abominable," which has no equivalent in the existing Hebrew text; and it has been suggested that these words may misrepresent the Hebrew original of the second proverb here. But it is quite possible that both proverbs come from popular tradition, and not from Scripture at all. If, however, the Book of Proverbs be the source of the quotation, it is worth while noting that no less than four times in as many chapters does St. Peter recall passages from the Proverbs in the First Epistle (1Peter 1:7; 1Peter 2:17; 1Peter 4:8; 1Peter 4:18). In the Greek neither proverb has a verb, as so often in such sayings--a dog that has returned to his own vomit; a washed sow to wallowing in the mire; just as we say "the dog in the manger," "a fool and his money." . . .