Sheol, the barren womb; the earth that is not satisfied with water; and the fire that doesn’t say, ‘Enough.’
Parallel translations
- KJV The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.
- BSB Sheol, the barren womb, land never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’
- NKJV The grave, The barren womb, The earth that is not satisfied with water— And the fire never says, “Enough!”
- NASB Sheol, the infertile womb, Earth that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, “Enough.”
- NLT the grave, the barren womb, the thirsty desert, the blazing fire.
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
The grave, the barren womb, the parched earth, and fire are four things that never say "Enough."
Overview
Each example pictures a consuming hunger that cannot be filled, illustrating the insatiability introduced in the previous verse. The list warns that some desires, left ungoverned, will devour endlessly. It quietly points the reader away from craving created things toward the only One who truly satisfies the human heart, the living God revealed in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Prov 27:20Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man’s eyes are never satisfied.
- Hab 2:5Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.
- Gen 30:1When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 30:16 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.