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 has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea?
Those of Jeroboam who die in the city, the dogs shall eat. And those who die in the field, the fowls of the air shall eat. For Jehovah has spoken.
Those of Baasha who die in the city shall the dogs eat. And those of his who die in the fields, the birds of the air shall eat.
And you shall speak to him, saying, So says Jehovah, Have you killed and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him saying, So says Jehovah, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.
And Jehovah also spoke of Jezebel saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed his armor, according to the Word of Jehovah which He spoke.
And Hazael said, What! Is your servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, Jehovah has shown me that you shall be king over Syria.
But now those younger laugh at me, whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock.
and You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercers of My hands and My feet.
They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go around the city.
And at evening they shall return; let them howl like a dog, and go around the city.
His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs who cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision party.
But outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie.
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 shall not bring the hire of a harlot, or the price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow. For even both these are hateful to Jehovah your God.
After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea?
Those of Jeroboam who die in the city, the dogs shall eat. And those who die in the field, the fowls of the air shall eat. For Jehovah has spoken.
Those of Baasha who die in the city shall the dogs eat. And those of his who die in the fields, the birds of the air shall eat.
And you shall speak to him, saying, So says Jehovah, Have you killed and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him saying, So says Jehovah, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.
And Jehovah also spoke of Jezebel saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed his armor, according to the Word of Jehovah which He spoke.
But now those younger laugh at me, whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock.
and You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercers of My hands and My feet.
Deliver My soul from the sword, My only one from the dog's hand.
They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go around the city.
And at evening they shall return; let them howl like a dog, and go around the city. Let them wander up and down for food, and growl if they are not satisfied.
His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs who cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs who cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough; and they are shepherds who cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, to his own end.
Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough; and they are shepherds who cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, to his own end.
He who kills an ox is is as if he killed a man; he who sacrifices a lamb is as if he broke a dog's neck; he who offers an offering is as if he offered swine's blood; he who burns incense is as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
Do not give that which is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and tear you.
But He answered and said, It is not good to take the children's bread and to throw it to dogs. And she said, True, O Lord; but even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' tables.
But Jesus said to her, Let the children first be filled. For it is not right to take the children's loaves and to throw it to the dogs. And she answered and said to Him, Yes, Lord, yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision party.
(For many are walking, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, those who mind earthly things.)
To the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and reprobate to every good work.
But the word of the true proverb has happened to them: The dog turning to his own vomit; and, The washed sow to wallowing in the mire.
But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, will have their part in the Lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
But outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie.
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
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You shall not bring the hire of a harlot, or the price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow. For even both these are hateful to Jehovah your God.
After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea?
Those of Jeroboam who die in the city, the dogs shall eat. And those who die in the field, the fowls of the air shall eat. For Jehovah has spoken.
Those of Baasha who die in the city shall the dogs eat. And those of his who die in the fields, the birds of the air shall eat.
And you shall speak to him, saying, So says Jehovah, Have you killed and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him saying, So says Jehovah, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.
And Jehovah also spoke of Jezebel saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed his armor, according to the Word of Jehovah which He spoke.
And Hazael said, What! Is your servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, Jehovah has shown me that you shall be king over Syria.
But now those younger laugh at me, whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock.
They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go around the city.
And at evening they shall return; let them howl like a dog, and go around the city. Let them wander up and down for food, and growl if they are not satisfied.
so that your foot may be dipped in the blood of your enemies, and the tongue of your dogs in it.
He who passes by enraging himself over strife not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears,
one girded in the loins; and a he-goat; and a king when his army is with him.
His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs who cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
And I will set over them four kinds, says Jehovah; the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
But Jesus said to her, Let the children first be filled. For it is not right to take the children's loaves and to 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.
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You shall not bring the hire of a harlot, or the price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow. For even both these are hateful to Jehovah your God.
and You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercers of My hands and My feet.
They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go around the city.
And at evening they shall return; let them howl like a dog, and go around the city.
And she said, True, O Lord; but even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' tables.
But Jesus said to her, Let the children first be filled. For it is not right to take the children's loaves and to throw it to the dogs. And she answered and said to Him, Yes, Lord, yet the dogs under the table eat of 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 has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea?
Those of Jeroboam who die in the city, the dogs shall eat. And those who die in the field, the fowls of the air shall eat. For Jehovah has spoken.
And you shall speak to him, saying, So says Jehovah, Have you killed and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him saying, So says Jehovah, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.
And Jehovah also spoke of Jezebel saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed his armor, according to the Word of Jehovah which He spoke.
But now those younger laugh at me, whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock.
and You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercers of My hands and My feet.
Deliver My soul from the sword, My only one from the dog's hand.
They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go around the city.
His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs who cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
He who kills an ox is is as if he killed a man; he who sacrifices a lamb is as if he broke a dog's neck; he who offers an offering is as if he offered swine's blood; he who burns incense is as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
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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And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea?
And the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful form. But the man was cruel and evil in his dealings. And he was of Caleb.
And Jehovah also spoke of Jezebel saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed his armor, according to the Word of Jehovah which He spoke.
They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go around the city.
And at evening they shall return; let them howl like a dog, and go around the city. Let them wander up and down for food, and growl if they are not satisfied.
He who passes by enraging himself over strife not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears,
And I will set over them four kinds, says Jehovah; the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
Do not give that which is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and tear you.