Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 26:11 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.
Proverbs 26:11
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
9 Like a thorn bush that goes into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
10 As an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool or he who hires those who pass by.
11 As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.
12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion roams the streets!”
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See here, first, how hateful sin is, and how disgusting it can seem, even to the sinner himself. When a person’s conscience is awakened, or when he feels the pain that sin has brought on him, he grows sick of it and throws it up. At that moment, he seems to hate it and to be ready to let it go. In itself, and sooner or later for the sinner, sin is more revolting than a dog’s vomit (Psalm 36:2).
See also how ready sinners are to go back to it anyway. A dog may feel better after vomiting what upset its stomach, yet it goes back and licks it up again. In the same way, people who have only been convicted, meaning they have been made aware of their sin, but not truly changed, return to sin again and forget how bitter it was. The apostle Peter applies this proverb to those who have known the way of righteousness and then turned away from it (2 Peter 2:22), and God says he will spit out such people from his mouth (Revelation 3:16).
From This Chapter
Proverbs 26:1
"Like snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool."
Proverbs 26:2
"Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn’t come to rest."
Proverbs 26:3
"A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools!"
Proverbs 26:4
"Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him."
Proverbs 26:5
"Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes."
Proverbs 26:6
"One who sends a message by the hand of a fool is cutting off feet and drinking violence."
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