Pro 26:11 | KD | STEP | The series of proverbs regarding fools is continued: Like a dog which returneth to his vomit, Is a fool who cometh again with his folly. שׁב is like שׁונה, particip.; only if the punctuation were כּכּלב, ought “which returneth to his vomit” to be taken as a relative clause ( vid ., under ). Regarding על as designating the terminus quo with verbs of motions, vid ., Köhler under Mal. 3:24. On קא = קיא, cf. Pro 23:8. Luther rightly; as a dog devours again his vomit. The lxx translate: ὥσπερ κύων ὅταν ἐπέλθῃ ἐπὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἔμετον; the reference in 2Pe 2:22 : κύων ἐπιστρέψας ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον ἐξέραμα, is thus not from the lxx; the Venet . is not connected with this N.T. citation, but with the lxx, if its accordance with it is not merely accidental. To devour again its vomit is common with the dog. Even so, it is the manner of fools to return again in word and in deed to their past folly ( vid ., regarding שׁנה with ב of the object. ); as an Aram. popular saying has it: the fool always falls back upon his foolish conduct. He must needs do so, for folly has become to him a second nature; but this “must” ceases when once a divine light shines forth upon him. The lxx has after a distich which is literally the same as Sir. 4:21.

‏ Proverbs 26:11

The series of proverbs regarding fools is continued:

Like a dog which returneth to his vomit,

Is a fool who cometh again with his folly. שׁב is like שׁונה, particip.; only if the punctuation were כּכּלב, ought “which returneth to his vomit” to be taken as a relative clause (vid., under Psa 38:14). Regarding על as designating the terminus quo with verbs of motions, vid., Köhler under Mal. 3:24. On קא = קיא, cf. Pro 23:8. Luther rightly; as a dog devours again his vomit. The lxx translate: ὥσπερ κύων ὅταν ἐπέλθῃ ἐπὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἔμετον; the reference in 2Pe 2:22 : κύων ἐπιστρέψας ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον ἐξέραμα, is thus not from the lxx; the Venet. is not connected with this N.T. citation, but with the lxx, if its accordance with it is not merely accidental. To devour again its vomit is common with the dog. ^{▼▼Vid., Schulze’s Die bibl. Sprichwörter der deutschen Sprache, p. 71f.}

Even so, it is the manner of fools to return again in word and in deed to their past folly (vid., regarding שׁנה with ב of the object. Pro 17:9); as an Aram. popular saying has it: the fool always falls back upon his foolish conduct. ^{▼▼Vid., Wahl’s Das Sprichwort der heb.-aram. Literatur, p. 147; Duke’s Rabbin. Blumenlese, p. 9.}

He must needs do so, for folly has become to him a second nature; but this “must” ceases when once a divine light shines forth upon him. The lxx has after Pro 26:11 a distich which is literally the same as Sir. 4:21.