Translation | Verse | Text |
King James | Mt 7:6 | Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. |
Word | King James Dictionary - Definition |
CAST | Worn-out; old; cast-off. |
Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
DOGS | Were held in great contempt by the Jews, but were worshipped, as well as cats, by the Egyptians. Among the Jews, to compare a person to a dog was the most degrading expression possible, 1Sa 17:43 24:14 2Sa 9:8. The state of dogs among the Jews was the same that now prevails in the East, where, having no owners, they run about the streets in troops, and are fed by charity or caprice, or live on such offal as they can pick up. As they are often on the point of starvation, they devour corpses, and in the night even attack living men, Ps 59:6,14,15 1Ki 14:11. In various places in Scripture the epithet "dogs" is given to certain classes of men, as expressing their insolent rapacity, Mt 7:6 Ps 22:16 Php 3:2, and their beastly vices, De 23:18 2Pe 2:22 Re 22:15. |
Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
PEARLS | Were ranked by the ancients among the most precious substances, Re 17:4, and were highly valued as ornaments for women. Their modest splendor still charms the Orientals, and a string of pearls is a favorite decoration of eastern monarchs. The kingdom of heaven is compared to a goodly pearl, so superior to all others that the pearl merchant sold all others that he could obtain for it the highest price, Mt 13:45,46. The gates of heaven are described as consisting of pearls; "every several gate was one pearl," Re 21:21. The Savior forbade his apostles to cast their pearls before swine, Mt 7:6; that is, to expose the precious truths of the gospel unnecessarily to those who reject them with scorn and violence. Pearls are a stony concretion in a species of oyster, found in the Persian gulf, on the coast of Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, etc., and in smaller quantities in various other places in both hemispheres. It is not known whether the pearl is a natural deposit, or the consequence of disease, or of the lodging of some foreign body, as a grain of sand, within the shells. The pearl oyster grows in clusters, on rocks in deep water; and is brought up by trained divers, only during a few weeks of calm weather in spring. The shell itself yields the well- known "mother of pearl." |
Word | King James Dictionary - Definition |
REND | To divide; break or tear apart. |
Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
SWINE | A well-known animal, forbidden as food to the Hebrews, who held its flesh in such destination that they would not so much as pronounce its name, Le 11:7 De 14:8. The eating of swine's flesh was among the most odious of the idolatrous abominations charged upon some of the Jews, Isa 65:4 66:3,17. The herd of swine destroyed by evil spirits in the Sea of Gennesaret, Mt 8:32, are supposed to have been kept by Jews for sale to the Gentiles around them, in defiance of the law. The beautiful and affecting parable of the prodigal son shows that the tending of swine was considered to be an employment of the most despicable character; it was the last resource of that depraved and unhappy being who had squandered his patrimony in riotous living, Lu 15:14-16. The irreclaimably filthy habits of this animal illustrate the insufficiency of reformation without regeneration, 2Pe 2:22; as its treading in the mire any precious thing which it cannot eat, illustrates the treatment which some profligates the treatment which some profligates give to the gospel, Mt 7:6. |
Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
SWINE | (Heb. hazir), regarded as the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals (Lev. 11:7; Isa. 65:4; 66:3, 17; Luke 15:15, 16). A herd of swine were drowned in the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:32, 33). Spoken of figuratively in Matt. 7:6 (see Prov. 11:22). It is frequently mentioned as a wild animal, and is evidently the wild boar (Arab. khanzir), which is common among the marshes of the Jordan valley (Ps. 80:13). |
Word | King James Dictionary - Definition |
SWINE | Pigs. |
Copy and paste this small bit of HTML to link your web page to this site: |
<a href="http://www.justverses.com/jv/app/showDefinitionsForVerse.vm?T=1&B=40&C=7&V=6&LCL=en">Change this value</a> |