20 For if, ^aafter they have escaped the defilements of the world ^bthrough the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^cthe last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For ^dit would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from ^ethe holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The ^fdog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”