SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:22
Pero les ha acontecido lo que por un verdadero proverbio se suele decir: El perro vuelve a su vmito, y la puerca lavada a revolcarse en el cieno.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Peter 2:22
Verse 22. According to the true proverb] This seems to be a reference to Prov. xxvi. 11: laq lab blkk kekeleb shab al keo; as the dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool repeateth his folly. In substance this proverb is found among the rabbins; so Midrash Ruth, in Sohar Chadash, fol. l12: Orphah is returned to her mire, Ruth persevered in spirit; and again, Ibid. fol. l14: "Orphah, which is tymhbh xn nephesh habbehemith, the bestial soul, is returned to her mire." The Greeks have something like it; so Arrian, Dissert. Epict. l. iv. c. 11, says: apelqe kai coirw dialegou, in en borborw mh kulihtai, "Go and reason with the swine, lest he be rolled in the mire." This is called a true proverb: for it is a fact that a dog will eat up his own vomit; and the swine, howsoever carefully washed, will again wallow in the mire. As applied here it is very expressive: the poor sinner, having heard the Gospel of Christ, was led to loathe and reject his sin; and, on his application to God for mercy, was washed from his unrighteousness. But he is here represented as taking up again what he had before rejected, and defiling himself in that from which he had been cleansed. Here is a sad proof of the possibility of falling from grace, and from very high degrees of it too. These had escaped from the contagion that was in the world; they had had true repentance, and cast up "their soursweet morsel of sin;" they had been washed from all their filthiness, and this must have been through the blood of the Lamb; yet, after all, they went back, got entangled with their old sins, swallowed down their formerly rejected lusts, and rewallowed in the mire of corruption. It is no wonder that God should say, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning: reason and nature say it must be so; and Divine justice says it ought to be so; and the person himself must confess that it is right that it should be so.
But how dreadful is this state! How dangerous when the person has abandoned himself to his old sins! Yet it is not said that it is impossible for him to return to his Maker; though his case be deplorable, it is not utterly hopeless; the leper may yet be made clean, and the dead may be raised.
Reader, is thy backsliding a grief and burden to thee? Then thou art not far from the kingdom of God; believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 22. But it is happened unto them, according to the true proverb , etc.] 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 ryzj , from the root rzj , 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 f40 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 17-22 - The word of truth is the water of life, which refreshes the souls tha receive it; but deceivers spread and promote error, and are set fort as empty, because there is no truth in them. As clouds hinder the ligh of the sun, so do these darken counsel by words wherein there is n truth. Seeing that these men increase darkness in this world, it is very just that the mist ofdarkness should be their portion in the next In the midst of their talk of liberty, these men are the vilest slaves their own lusts gain a complete victory over them, and they ar actually in bondage. When men are entangled, they are easily overcome therefore Christians should keep close to the word of God, and watc against all who seek to bewilder them. A state of apostacy is wors than a state of ignorance. To bring an evil report upon the good way of God, and a false charge against the way of truth, must expose to the heaviest condemnation. How dreadful is the state here described! Ye though such a case is deplorable, it is not utterly hopeless; the lepe may be made clean, and even the dead may be raised. Is thy backslidin a grief to thee? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
συμβεβηκεν 4819 5758 δε 1161 αυτοις 846 το 3588 της 3588 αληθους 227 παροιμιας 3942 κυων 2965 επιστρεψας 1994 5660 επι 1909 το 3588 ιδιον 2398 εξεραμα 1829 και 2532 υς 5300 λουσαμενη 3068 5671 εις 1519 κυλισμα 2946 βορβορου 1004
Vincent's NT Word Studies
22. According to the true proverb (to thv alhqouv parioimiav). Lit., that of the true proverb, or the matter of the proverb. For a similar construction see Matt. xxi. 21, that of the fig-tree; Matt. viii. 33, the things of those possessed. On proverb, see notes on Matt. xiii. 3. Vomit (exerama). Only here in New Testament.
Wallowing (kulismon). Only here in New Testament.
Mire (borborou). Only here in New Testament. This use of dogs and swine together recalls Matt. vii. 6.
