This verse appears to have the order of a chiasm, as Revised Standard Version shows by means of a literal translation (see the discussion of chiastic arrangements under 5.45). Revised Standard Version makes it appear that the dogs do nothing, while the swine both trample and attack. This is, of course, possible, but it is more probable that the chiastic A-B-B′-A′ arrangement intends to say that the dogs (A) will turn to attack you (A′), while the swine (B) will trample them under foot (B′). A number of CLTs take this to be the meaning (Good News Translation, Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition, Bible en français courant, Bijbel in Gewone Taal), and they provide good examples of how the verse can be rendered meaningfully.

The term dogs is almost always translated literally. It is regularly used disparagingly in the Old Testament for street dogs, and in this context the meaning “unclean” seems to be implied, in contrast with holy. Thus dogs may well be rendered as “dogs, which are impure animals.” Some cultures use the term to refer to people of certain immoral behavior, which would not apply here, and so translators can say in those languages “unclean animals” or “compound (or, household) dogs.”

Translators often have to ask what things are being referred to as holy. Some have said “things that are for God” or “things that have to do with God.” Scholars are of divided opinion concerning whom or what is referred to by what is holy, dogs, pearls, and swine. However, what is holy should not be identified any more specifically than that, since the intention seems to be to refer to things in general that may be classified as holy.

The phrase do not throw your pearls before swine needs to be carefully analyzed before it is translated. There are, first of all, several metaphors here. Pearls may not be known, in which case they can be translated as “valuable stones” or “beautiful beads,” possibly with the addition “called pearls.” No one agrees exactly what pearls stand for in this verse, but since they are something valuable or precious, some have thought it might be “your experiences with God” or “your teachings from God,” or something similar. We do not recommend necessarily that this be included in the translation. We list it here merely to help translators have some idea of how to analyze the sentence before translating it. What may be helpful is to say “things that are precious to you like pearls.”

Throw … before then may best be translated as “share with” or “let others have.”

Swine (or, “pigs”) is often understood to stand for people who have no appreciation of truly valuable things, much as pigs are thought to eat both garbage and good food with equal pleasure. Translators can say simply “pigs,” “pigs who can’t tell what is valuable and isn’t,” or “pigs that can’t appreciate valuable things.”

The whole phrase can be rendered “Don’t share what is valuable to you, like pearls, with swine who can’t tell the value” or “… with people who, like swine, can’t tell what is of value.” But to repeat our advice above, translators should not be more specific than this about what pearls and swine actually refer to.

The warning lest they trample them under foot may be expressed as “so they won’t just trample them under foot” or “if you do, they will only trample them under their feet.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .