dog

Dogs were domesticated very early and were used for hunting and as watchdogs in the ancient world. In Egypt as early as 4000 B.C. people made pottery images that indicate that sleek fast hunting dogs were bred which looked like the modern greyhound. From Babylonian sculpture we know that around 2500 B.C. large hunting dogs that looked like the modern bull-mastiff were kept by people in the Mesopotamian civilizations.

Among the Jews however while dogs were kept mainly as watch-dogs they were held in contempt and left to feed themselves by scavenging. This habit of scavenging and the fact that dogs were possibly associated with some Egyptian gods meant that dogs were seen as very unclean animals by the Jews. The dog found in Jewish settlements in Bible times was probably the pariah dog Canis familiaris putiatini which looked something like a small light brown Alsatian or German shepherd. This type of dog in its wild and domesticated forms is found all over the Middle East and on the mainland coasts of South and Southeast Asia (where it is known as the crab-eating dog). The Australian dingo is also very similar.

Small pet dogs were kept in homes in the Greek and Roman civilizations by gentiles but not by Jews. This is probably the type of dog referred to by the Greek word kunarion in Matthew 15:26 and Mark 7:27.

[Sarah Ruden (2021, p. 27), who translates kunarion as “little doggy,” says the following: “In the entire Greek Bible, only [these two passages] use this diminutive (kunarion) of the word for ‘dog,’ a rare and largely comical word. This word choice weakens the usual sense of dogs as dirty and uncivilized and excluded from the home, much less from the table that symbolized God’s providential bounty.”]

As mentioned above dogs were held in contempt as unclean. To call someone a dog was therefore very derogatory and to refer to someone as a “dead dog” was even more so. Israelites viewed dogs as second only to pigs as unclean animals. Dogs as scavengers around the villages ate anything from household refuse to animal carcasses and human excreta. They even ate human corpses that lay unburied after battles. Furthermore the dog was possibly one of the symbols of the Egyptian god Anubis (although many modern scholars believe the symbol to be the jackal).

With all of the above in mind it is understandable that dying and then being eaten by unclean dogs was seen as the worst of all possible fates.

In the first century A.D. gentiles were considered to be unclean and were referred to by Jews in a derogatory way as “dogs.” There is therefore strong irony in the expression in Philippians 3:2 where Judaizing Christians are referred to as dogs.

One additional connotation associated with dogs in the Bible is sexual perversion and promiscuity a connotation probably arising from the fact that sexually aroused male dogs do not always differentiate between sexes as they seek to mate and the fact that dogs of both sexes mate repeatedly with different partners.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Isaiah 56:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 56:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “The guards of Israel are blind,
    and all of them are without wisdom.
    They are all like (watch) dogs that kept quiet,
    like dogs that did not bark.
    They just/only lie down dreaming
    and they like to lie flat on the ground.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The watchmen of Israel are all blind.
    They are all ignorant [lit.: not having knowledge].
    Like a dog that stutters, they do not know how to bark.
    They lie down and see dreams.
    They only want to sleep.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “For the leaders/[lit. heads] of the Israel who would-have-been watchmen of this nation are seemed-like blind and they do- not -know-anything. They are like the watch dogs who do- not -bark. They just want to roll, sleep, and dream.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 56:10

His watchmen are blind: There is no antecedent for the pronoun His, but it most likely refers to Israel, so New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, and Bible en français courant say “Israel’s,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “Its.” Good News Translation renders this pronoun as “my people,” since it continues to view the LORD as the speaker. For watchmen see the comments on 21.6. In this context watchmen is a metaphor for the leaders of God’s people. These leaders are blind, which is a metaphor for their inability to see what is happening, perhaps even not wanting to see what is happening, within society (compare 42.18-19). A watchman who is blind cannot possibly fulfill his role to keep the community safe from threats and attacks.

They are all without knowledge charges the leaders with being foolish. It does not mean that they are uneducated. They are stupid, which implies they are irresponsible leaders.

They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark: These two lines compare Israel’s leaders to dogs that are unable to bark. It was a great insult in Hebrew culture to be called a dog. The Hebrew adjective rendered dumb refers to the inability to speak, so when applied to dogs, it means they cannot bark. A watchdog that cannot bark is useless since it cannot warn about any threat to the things it is guarding. In the same way the leaders were useless. Not only were they blind to threats, they also could not bark (cry out) to give a warning. The Hebrew verb rendered bark is found only here in the Old Testament. This verb comes from a Hebrew root that can also mean “see.” It can be used to refer to a “seer” or prophet, so there is probably a play-on-words here. The leaders are compared to (useless) prophets. The metaphor of dogs may be expressed as a simile if necessary (see the second example below).

Dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber: These two lines use three participles in Hebrew to describe the leaders further. Like lazy dogs, they just lie down sleeping and dreaming instead of doing what they are supposed to do. As watchmen, they should be bringing God’s word of warning to their people. Translators may reorder the actions here for a more logical progression as follows: lie down, sleep, and then dream.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• The [or, Israel’s] watchmen are all blind,
they are all ignorant.
They are all dumb dogs that cannot bark [a warning];
they love to lie down, sleep, and dream.

• The watchmen [of my people] are all blind and stupid;
they are all like dumb dogs that cannot bark.
They prefer to lie down and dream.
They love to sleep.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .