Saying 102: The Dog in the Manger
Damn the Pharisees: they are like a dog asleep in the cattle trough, who neither eats nor lets the cattle eat.
Commentary
A Greek fable pressed into service as a woe-saying. The complaint is the same as saying 39 — the gatekeepers block a door they will not go through themselves.
Parallels
Matthew 23:13; Luke 11:52; Aesop
Sayings on the same themes
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- Saying 12 Saying 12: James the Just Asked who will lead them after he goes, Jesus sends the disciples to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth…
- Saying 34 Saying 34: The Blind Leading the Blind If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them fall into a pit.
- Saying 53 Saying 53: Is Circumcision Useful? If circumcision were useful, fathers would produce sons already circumcised; the true circumcision, in spirit, is what profits.