Reference: Dog
Easton
frequently mentioned both in the Old and New Testaments. Dogs were used by the Hebrews as a watch for their houses (Isa 56:10), and for guarding their flocks (Job 30:1). There were also then as now troops of semi-wild dogs that wandered about devouring dead bodies and the offal of the streets (1Ki 14:11; 16:4; 21:19,23; 22:38; Ps 59:6,14).
As the dog was an unclean animal, the terms "dog," "dog's head," "dead dog," were used as terms of reproach or of humiliation (1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 3:8; 9:8; 16:9). Paul calls false apostles "dogs" (Php 3:2). Those who are shut out of the kingdom of heaven are also so designated (Re 22:15). Persecutors are called "dogs" (Ps 22:16). Hazael's words, "Thy servant which is but a dog" (2Ki 8:13), are spoken in mock humility=impossible that one so contemptible as he should attain to such power.
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After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea?
He who dies for Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will eat. He who dies in the open field, the birds from the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken [it]." '
Those who die for Baasha in the city, the dogs will eat; those who die for him in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat."
You shall say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Have you committed murder and also taken possession?" ' You shall also say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood." '"
Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.'
They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood (now, the prostitutes washed themselves [there]) according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
Then Hazael said, "But how could your servant, who [is] like a dog, do this great thing?" Elisha said, "Yahweh has shown me [that] you [are to be] king over Aram."
"But now [those] younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me, whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.
Because dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has encircled me. Like the lion [they are at] my hands and my feet.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city.
His watchmen [are] blind, none of them know. They [are] all dumb dogs; they are unable to bark, panting, lying down, loving to slumber.
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation.
Outside [are] the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral people and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and who practices falsehood.
Fausets
The watch of the house, and of the flock (Isa 56:10-11; Job 30:1). Sometimes domesticated, as the Syrophoenician woman's comparison and argument imply, "the household (kunaria, 'little' or 'pet') dogs eat of the crumbs (Mt 15:26-27; Mr 7:27-28) which fall from their master's table." More commonly ownerless, and banded in troops which divide cities into so many quarters; each half-starved, ravenous troop keeps to its own quarter, and drives off any intruder; feeding on blood, dead bodies, and offal; therefore regarded as "unclean" (1Ki 14:11; 16:4; 21:19,23; 22:38; 2Ki 9:10,35-36). Their dismal howlings at night are alluded to in Ps 59:6,14-15; "they return at evening, they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city"; perhaps in allusion to Saul's agents thirsting for David's blood coming to Michal's house at evening, and to the retribution on Saul in kind, when he who had made David a wanderer himself wandered about seeking vainly for help against the Philistines, and went at last by night to the witch of Endor. As unclean (Isa 66:3), dog, dead dog, dog's head, are terms of scorn or else self-abasement (1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 3:8; 9:8; 16:9; 2Ki 8:13). A wanton, self-prostituting man is called a "dog" (De 23:18). One Egyptian god had a dog form. "Beware of the (Greek) dogs," those impure persons of whom I told you often" (Php 3:2,18-19); "the abominable" (Re 21:8; compare Re 22:15; Mt 7:6); pagan in spirit (Tit 1:15-16); dogs in filthiness, snarling, and ferocity against the Lord and His people (Ps 22:16,20); backsliding into former carnality, as the dog "is turned to his own vomit again" (2Pe 2:22). The Jews regarded the Gentiles as "dogs," but by unbelief they ceased to be the true Israel and themselves became dogs (Isa 56:10-11). "Deliver my darling from the power of the dog," i.e. my soul (literally, my unique one, unique in its preciousness) from the Jewish rabble; as "deliver My soul from the sword" is Messiah's cry for deliverance from the Roman soldiery and governor. The Assyrian hunting dog as vividly depicted on Assyrian sculptures resembled exactly our harrier or foxhound.
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You may not bring the {hire} of a prostitute or {the earnings of a male prostitute} [into] the house of Yahweh your God, for any vow offerings, because {both} are a detestable thing to Yahweh your God.
After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea?
He who dies for Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will eat. He who dies in the open field, the birds from the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken [it]." '
Those who die for Baasha in the city, the dogs will eat; those who die for him in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat."
You shall say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Have you committed murder and also taken possession?" ' You shall also say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood." '"
Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.'
They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood (now, the prostitutes washed themselves [there]) according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
"But now [those] younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me, whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.
Because dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has encircled me. Like the lion [they are at] my hands and my feet.
Rescue my life from [the] sword, my only [life] from [the] power of [the] dogs.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city. As for them, they wander for food. If they are not satisfied, then they continue all night.
His watchmen [are] blind, none of them know. They [are] all dumb dogs; they are unable to bark, panting, lying down, loving to slumber.
His watchmen [are] blind, none of them know. They [are] all dumb dogs; they are unable to bark, panting, lying down, loving to slumber. And the dogs {have a greedy appetite}; they {are never satisfied}. And they are [the] shepherds! They do not have understanding. They all turn to their [own] way, each one for his [own] gain, {every one of them}.
And the dogs {have a greedy appetite}; they {are never satisfied}. And they are [the] shepherds! They do not have understanding. They all turn to their [own] way, each one for his [own] gain, {every one of them}.
The one who slaughters bull strikes a man; the one who slaughters lamb for sacrifice breaks the neck [of] a dog. The one who offers an offering, [the] blood of swine; the one who offers frankincense blesses an idol. Indeed, they themselves have chosen their ways, and their soul delights in their abhorrence.
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls in front of pigs, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn around [and] tear you to pieces.
And he answered [and] said, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw [it] to the dogs!" So she said, "Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
And he said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw [it] to the dogs!" But she answered and said to him, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation.
For many live, of whom I spoke about to you many times, but now speak about even weeping, [as] the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end [is] destruction, whose God [is] the stomach, and [whose] glory [is] in their shame, the ones who think on earthly things.
To the pure all [things] [are] pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing [is] pure, but both their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny [him], [because they] are detestable and disobedient, and unfit for every good deed.
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."
But [as] for the cowards and unbelievers and detestable persons and murderers and sexually immoral people and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their share [is] in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.
Outside [are] the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral people and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and who practices falsehood.
Hastings
All the Bible references to dogs breathe the modern Oriental feeling with regard to them; they refer to the common pariah dogs. These creatures are in all their ways repulsive, and in the majority of cases they have not even outward attractiveness. They live in and around the streets, and act as scavengers. In the environs of Jerusalem, e.g. the Valley of Hinnom, where carcases are cast out, they may be seen prowling around and consuming horrible, putrid bodies, or lying stretched near the remains of their meal, satiated with their loathsome repast. Whole companies of dogs consume the offal of the slaughter-house. There is not the slightest doubt that they would consume human bodies to-day had they the opportunity; indeed, cases do occur from time to time (cf. 1Ki 14:11; 16:4; 21:19,23; 22:38; 2Ki 9:10,36; Jer 15:3; Ps 68:23). All night they parade the streets (Ps 59:6,14-15), each company jealously guarding that district which they have annexed, and fighting with noisy onslaught any canine stranger who ventures to invade their territory. Such a quarrel may start all the dogs in the city into a hideous chorus of furious barks. In many parts these creatures are a real danger, and the wise man leaves them alone (Pr 26:17). When they attach themselves, quite uninvited, to certain houses or encampments, they defend them from all intruders (Isa 56:10). To call a man a 'dog' is a dire insult, but by no means an uncommon one from an arrogant superior to one much below him, and to apply such an epithet to himself on the part of an inferior is an expression of humility (2Ki 8:13 etc.). A 'dead dog' is an even lower stage; it is an all too common object, an unclean animal in a condition of putridity left unconsumed even by his companions (1Sa 24:14 etc.). The feeling against casting bread to a dog is a strong one; bread is sacred, and to cast it to dogs is even to-day strongly condemned in Palestine (Mr 7:27).
The shepherd dog (Job 30:1) is, as a rule, a very superior animal; many of these are handsome beasts of a Kurdish breed, and have the intelligent ways and habits of our best shepherds' dogs at home.
Greyhounds are still bred by some Bedouin in S. Palestine, and are used for hunting the gazelle; they are treated very differently from the pariah dogs. Pr 30:31 is a very doubtful reference to the greyhound; Revised Version margin has 'war horse,' Septuagint 'cock.'
The 'price of a dog' (De 23:18) evidently has reference to degraded practices of the qed
See Verses Found in Dictionary
You may not bring the {hire} of a prostitute or {the earnings of a male prostitute} [into] the house of Yahweh your God, for any vow offerings, because {both} are a detestable thing to Yahweh your God.
After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea?
He who dies for Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will eat. He who dies in the open field, the birds from the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken [it]." '
Those who die for Baasha in the city, the dogs will eat; those who die for him in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat."
You shall say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Have you committed murder and also taken possession?" ' You shall also say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood." '"
Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.'
They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood (now, the prostitutes washed themselves [there]) according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
Then Hazael said, "But how could your servant, who [is] like a dog, do this great thing?" Elisha said, "Yahweh has shown me [that] you [are to be] king over Aram."
"But now [those] younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me, whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city. As for them, they wander for food. If they are not satisfied, then they continue all night.
so that your foot may shatter [them] bloody [for] the tongues of your dogs [to have] their share from [the] enemies."
Grabbing onto the ears of a dog passing by [is] one who meddles in a quarrel [that is] not his own.
a strutting rooster or he-goat, and a king [whose] army [is] with him.
His watchmen [are] blind, none of them know. They [are] all dumb dogs; they are unable to bark, panting, lying down, loving to slumber.
"And I will summon over them four types of calamity," {declares} Yahweh, "the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and to destroy.
And he said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw [it] to the dogs!"
Morish
Constantly referred to in scripture as an unclean and debased animal: hence the unclean Gentiles or heathen are compared to dogs. Ps 22:16; 59:6,14. The price of a dog was forbidden to be put into the Lord's treasury, it was an abomination. De 23:18. Hazael, a heathen, said, "Is thy servant a dog?" and the most offensive epithet was to call a man a dead dog. They were, and are, the scavengers of Eastern cities. All refuse is thrown into the streets and the dogs eat it. It was the dogs who ate the body of Jezebel, and licked up the blood of Naboth and of Ahab. In the N.T. it is the same: 'without are dogs,' ' beware of dogs' used symbolically of those cut off and of the unclean: they return to their vomit again. The only apparent exception to the above is when the Lord compared the Syrophenician woman to a dog, and she said, "Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." In these passages the diminutive of the word is used, implying 'little dogs or puppies,' and these are often kept in houses until they grow up. But this does not remove the contempt implied in the term. Mt 15:27. Wyclif translated 'houndis' and 'litil whelpis' in Mr 7:27-28.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
You may not bring the {hire} of a prostitute or {the earnings of a male prostitute} [into] the house of Yahweh your God, for any vow offerings, because {both} are a detestable thing to Yahweh your God.
Because dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has encircled me. Like the lion [they are at] my hands and my feet.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city.
So she said, "Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
And he said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw [it] to the dogs!" But she answered and said to him, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
Smith
Dog,
an animal frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was used by the hebrews as a watch for their houses,
and for guarding their flocks.
Then also, as now troops of hungry and semi-wild dogs used to wander about the fields and the streets of the cities, devouring dead bodies and other offal,
1Ki 14:11; 21:19,23; 22:38; Ps 59:6
and thus became so savage and fierce and such objects of dislike that fierce and cruel enemies are poetically styled dogs in
moreover the dog being an unclean animal,
the epithets dog, dead dog, dog's head, were used as terms of reproach or of humility in speaking of one's self.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea?
He who dies for Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will eat. He who dies in the open field, the birds from the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken [it]." '
You shall say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Have you committed murder and also taken possession?" ' You shall also say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood." '"
Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.'
They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood (now, the prostitutes washed themselves [there]) according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
"But now [those] younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me, whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.
Because dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has encircled me. Like the lion [they are at] my hands and my feet.
Rescue my life from [the] sword, my only [life] from [the] power of [the] dogs.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city.
His watchmen [are] blind, none of them know. They [are] all dumb dogs; they are unable to bark, panting, lying down, loving to slumber.
The one who slaughters bull strikes a man; the one who slaughters lamb for sacrifice breaks the neck [of] a dog. The one who offers an offering, [the] blood of swine; the one who offers frankincense blesses an idol. Indeed, they themselves have chosen their ways, and their soul delights in their abhorrence.
Watsons
DOG, ???, an animal well known. By the law of Moses, the dog was declared unclean, and was held in great contempt among the Jews, 1Sa 17:43; 24:14; 2Sa 9:8; 2Ki 8:13. Yet they had them in considerable numbers in their cities. They were not, however, shut up in their houses or courts, but forced to seek their food where they could find it. The Psalmist compares violent men to dogs, who go about the city in the night, prowl about for their food, and growl, and become clamorous if they be not satisfied, Ps 59:6,14-15. Mr. Harmer has illustrated this by quotations from travellers into the east. The Turks also reckon the dog a filthy creature, and therefore drive him from their houses; so that with them dogs guard rather the streets and districts, than particular houses, and live on the offals that are thrown abroad. In 1Sa 25:3, Nabal is said to have been "churlish and evil in his manners; and he was of the house of Caleb;" but Caleb here is not a proper name. Literally, it is, "He was the son of a dog;" and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic render it,
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So the Philistine said to David, "[Am] I a dog, that you [are] coming to me with sticks?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea?
The name of the man [was] Nabal, and the name of his wife [was] Abigail. Now the woman [was] wise and beautiful, but the man [was] stubborn and {mean}, and he [was] as his heart.
Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.'
They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood (now, the prostitutes washed themselves [there]) according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city.
They return at evening; they howl like dogs while they prowl [the] city. As for them, they wander for food. If they are not satisfied, then they continue all night.
Grabbing onto the ears of a dog passing by [is] one who meddles in a quarrel [that is] not his own.
"And I will summon over them four types of calamity," {declares} Yahweh, "the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and to destroy.
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls in front of pigs, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn around [and] tear you to pieces.