Matthew 7:6 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

Matthew 7:6. Dogs and Swine. Lk. omits, as a reflection on Gentile readers. To the Jew, Gentiles were dogs, and careless Jews perhaps swine. The saying looks like a modification of the command not to judge; the disciple must exercise some discrimination (? in teaching). that which is holy is a strange parallel to pearls; it may be a mistaken rendering of the Aramaic word for ear-rings. Didaché, ix., quotes the saying in forbidding the admission of the unbaptized to the Eucharist. Note the inverted parallelism; it is the swine that trample, the dogs that turn and bite.

Matthew 7:6

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.