2 Peter 2:22
What does 2 Peter 2:22 mean?
A plain-English look at 2 Peter 2:22 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 2 Peter 2:22 means
Two proverbs capture the nature of spiritual relapse: a dog returns to its vomit, and a washed sow returns to wallow in the mire. The images are deliberately repulsive. They show that without a deep, enduring change, external cleansing does not alter inward impulse. Old appetites draw the person back to what once defiled them. Peter applies this to the false teachers and those who follow them: they abandon the cleansing path and go back to corruption. The lesson is sobering—avoid teachers and trajectories that lead you toward the filth Christ calls you out of.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.
KJV
King James Version · 1611But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949They are an example of that true saying, The dog has gone back to the food it had put out, and the pig which had been washed to its rolling in the dirty earth.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and happened to them hath that of the true similitude; `A dog did turn back upon his own vomit,' and, `A sow having bathed herself--to rolling in mire.'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752For, that of the true proverb has happened to them: The dog is returned to his vomit; and: The sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890But that [word] of the true proverb has happened to them: [The] dog [has] turned back to his own vomit; and, [The] washed sow to [her] rolling in mud.
Context
Peter ends with proverbial pictures that summarize the chapter’s main concern: false teachers and their followers regress into corruption, despite appearances of cleansing. The imagery connects to verses 20–21’s warning about a worse end after knowing the truth. With this, the chapter closes its indictment and exhortation: God judges such deception and preserves the righteous. The next chapter will reorient readers to hope and vigilance by recalling the promise of the Lord’s coming and the reliability of his word.
v.21For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
v.22This passage
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Proverbs 26:11
As a dog that returneth to his vomit, So isa fool that repeateth his folly.
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