Proverbs 27:20

20 Death and Destruction[a] are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.

Proverbs 27:20 in Other Translations

KJV
20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
ESV
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
NLT
20 Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.
MSG
20 Hell has a voracious appetite, and lust just never quits.
CSB
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and people's eyes are never satisfied.

Proverbs 27:20 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 27:20

Hell and destruction are never full
The grave, as the word used often signifies; and which may be called "destruction", because bodies laid in it are soon corrupted and destroyed; and though bodies are cast into it and devoured by it, it is ready for more; it is one of the four things which never have enough. The place where Gog is said to be buried is called Hamongog, the multitude of Gog, ( Ezekiel 39:11 ) ; and by the Septuagint there Polyandrion, which is the name the Greeks give to a burying place, because many men are buried there; and with the Latins the dead are called Plures F15, the many, or the more; and yet the grave is never satisfied with them, ( Proverbs 30:16 ) . Or hell, the place of everlasting damnation and destruction, is meant, which has received multitudes of souls already, and where there is room for more, nor will it be full until the last day; so the eyes of man are never satisfied;
as not the eyes of his body with seeing corporeal objects, but still are desirous of seeing more, and indeed everything that is to be seen, and are never glutted, ( Ecclesiastes 1:8 ) ; so neither the eyes of the carnal mind, or the lusts of it, which are insatiable things, let the objects of them be what they will; as in an ambitious man, a covetous person, or an unclean one.


FOOTNOTES:

F15 Plauti Trinum, Act. 2. Sc. 2. v. 14.

Proverbs 27:20 In-Context

18 The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored.
19 As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.
20 Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.
21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are tested by their praise.
22 Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Proverbs 30:15-16; Habakkuk 2:5
  • 2. Ecclesiastes 1:8; Ecclesiastes 6:7

Footnotes 1

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