2 Peter 2:22
“But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Their relapse fulfills the proverb: the dog returns to its vomit, and the washed pig goes back to the mud.
What Does 2 Peter 2:22 Mean?
Peter closes the chapter with two blunt proverbs. The relapsed person is like "the dog... turned to his own vomit again" and "the sow that was washed" returning "to her wallowing in the mire." The images are deliberately repulsive: a creature going back to the very filth it had left behind, as if nothing had changed.
The proverbs capture the tragedy of return without true transformation. A washed pig may be clean on the outside, but if its nature is unchanged, it heads straight back to the mud. Peter's point is that those who turn from Christ to corruption reveal that the cleansing never reached the heart. The image is harsh because the danger is grave. Yet it implies the hope-filled opposite: a genuinely changed nature does not long for the mire. The believer truly made new in Christ finds the old filth repugnant, not attractive. Real cleansing goes deeper than the surface and gives a new heart that loves the light.