Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Parallel translations
- WEB Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man’s eyes are never satisfied.
- BSB Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- NKJV Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- NASB Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, Nor are the eyes of a person ever satisfied.
- NLT Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Death is never full, and human desire is likewise never satisfied. It warns against the insatiable craving that nothing earthly can fill.
Overview
Sheol and Abaddon, names for the realm of the dead, never stop receiving, and the proverb likens human eyes and desires to that endless appetite. It exposes the futility of seeking contentment in more possessions or experiences. Only Christ, the bread and water of life, can finally satisfy the restless human heart (John 4:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Eccl 1:8All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
- 1 Jn 2:16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
- Prov 30:15–16The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:
- Eccl 6:7All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
- Hab 2:5Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
- Eccl 4:8There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
- Eccl 2:10–11And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
- Eccl 5:10–11He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
- Jer 22:17But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
- Prov 23:5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
- Job 26:6Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
- Prov 15:11Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 27:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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