As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.
⛓ Read Proverbs 26 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Quotation1
A formal citation — high verbal volume, often introduced by a saying-formula.
Peter cites it as a 'true proverb': 'The dog turns to his own vomit again' reproduces Proverbs 26:11, 'like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.' The washed-sow saying is paired with it as a popular proverb.
High confidenceEcho1
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
'As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly' — wisdom proverb on relapse to a worse state, thematic kin to the spirit's return making 'the last state worse than the first.'
Low confidence