κύων

From the study of Revelation 22:15

Range of meaning

"Dog". Most dogs in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East were half-wild scavengers living around rubbish heaps and city edges, eating carrion and licking blood. Calling someone a "dog" in Jewish and Greek usage was a harsh insult meaning shameless, contemptible, impure or outside the covenant people.

Against the English

English "dogs" now suggests family pets and loyalty. The Greek image is closer to "mongrels" or "scavenging curs": something unclean that hangs about the edges.

How it drifted

The modern Western view of dogs as cherished companions is mostly recent. Ancient Israel had no such picture, though Greeks and Romans did keep some hunting dogs, guard dogs and lapdogs.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 23:18 forbids bringing "the price of a dog" into the temple. The Hebrew keleb there is often taken as a slang word for a male cult prostitute (LXX: ἄλλαγμα κυνός). Other uses: "Am I a dog?" (1 Sam 17:43); "dead dog" as self-abasement (2 Sam 16:9); dogs eat Jezebel (1 Kgs 21:23); "a dog returns to its vomit" (Prov 26:11; 2 Pet 2:22); greedy watchmen called dogs (Isa 56:10–11); enemies as dogs (Ps 22:16). In the NT: "do not give what is holy to dogs" (Matt 7:6, applied in Didache 9:5 to keeping the unbaptized from the Eucharist); "the dogs" in Matt 15:26–27; Paul's "beware of the dogs" turned against his opponents (Phil 3:2). At Qumran, 4QMMT rules that dogs must not be brought into Jerusalem, the holy camp, because they eat sacrificial bones. In Greek literature, "dog-eyed" means shameless (Homer, Iliad 1.225).

From the study of Philippians 3:2

Range of meaning

Dog. In the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean usually the scavenging street or pack dog, eating refuse and carcasses (1 Kgs 14:11; Ps 22:16; 59:6). As an insult: shameless, unclean, contemptible (1 Sam 17:43; 2 Sam 16:9). Greek also used 'dog' for shamelessness, and the Cynic philosophers took their name from it.

Against the English

English 'dogs' now calls up a loyal pet, so the insult sounds milder or even quaint. To Paul's readers it meant impure, shameless, outside the community.

How it drifted

Dogs came to be widely loved as household pets in the modern West. Ancient Israel and most of the Mediterranean held them in low regard; household and hunting dogs did exist.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jewish texts use 'dogs' for the unclean and for outsiders. Jesus' saying about 'the children's bread' and 'the dogs' (Matt 15:26–27, diminutive kynaria) assumes the Jew/Gentile use. 1 Enoch's Animal Apocalypse pictures Israel's Gentile enemies as dogs and other unclean animals (1 En 89:42, 46–47). Rev 22:15 puts 'the dogs' outside the holy city. Deut 23:18 uses 'dog' for a male cult prostitute. Later rabbinic texts also compare Gentiles to dogs.

From the study of Matthew 7:6

Range of meaning

Dog. In the ancient Near East and in Jewish Palestine this mostly meant a semi-wild scavenger that roamed streets and rubbish heaps, ate carcasses and was ritually unclean. Used figuratively as a strong insult for a contemptible, shameless or impure person.

Against the English

All English versions say 'dogs'. The word is correct, but the modern image of a loyal family pet is very different from the ancient one.

How it drifted

Western dog-keeping, with its affection for pets, has softened the word. In the Bible it is almost never warm.

Used elsewhere in the period

Dogs lick blood and eat corpses (1 Kings 21:19, 23–24; 2 Kings 9:36). 'Dog' is a self-abasing or insulting term (1 Samuel 17:43; 24:14; 2 Samuel 16:9). Proverbs 26:11: 'As a dog returns to its vomit.' In the New Testament: Philippians 3:2 ('beware of the dogs'), 2 Peter 2:22 (dog and pig together), Revelation 22:15 (dogs outside the city). Matthew 15:26 uses the diminutive 'little dogs' of Gentiles.