In Jesus’ conversation with the Phoenician woman in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30, she asked him to exorcise the demon from her daughter, and he replied that “the children’s bread should not be given to the dogs.” Critics see this as Jesus insulting the woman’s daughter by calling her a dog. It’s true that calling someone a “dog” was a common insult in the Ancient Near East, and dogs are even considered unclean in some cultures. However, the linguistic and broader literary context of Jesus’ meeting with the Syro-Phoenician woman in Matthew 15 and Mark 7 shows that this is not the case here. The Greek text uses the word κυνάριον (kunarion), which refers to a small dog or pet dog. Some parts of the Bible reference a wild dog or κύων (kuón) in Greek, which is used as an insult when not referring to a literal dog. Since he uses the former, he is calling her daughter a pet puppy (a beloved member of the family), in comparison to the children of Israel. She knows this, and yet she still believes he will help her, and he does.