New English Translation
Proverbs 27:20
20As Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so the eyes of a person are never satisfied.
Proverbs 27:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- New International Version (NIV)Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Context of Proverbs 27:20
18The one who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever takes care of his master will be honored. 19As in water the face is reflected as a face, so a person’s heart reflects the person. As Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so the eyes of a person are never satisfied. 21As the crucible is for silver and the furnace is for gold, so a person is proved by the praise he receives. 22If you should pound the fool in the mortar among the grain with the pestle, his foolishness would not depart from him.
Read all of Proverbs 27Proverbs 27:20 word by word
שְׁא֣וֹל וַ֭אֲבַדּוֹ לֹ֣א תִשְׂבַּ֑עְנָה וְעֵינֵ֥י הָ֝אָדָ֗ם לֹ֣א תִשְׂבַּֽעְנָה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 27:20
- Proverbs 30:15The leech has two daughters: “Give! Give!” There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, “Enough” –
- Habakkuk 2:5Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! His appetite is as big as Sheol’s; like death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations; he seizes all peoples.
- Proverbs 23:5When you gaze upon riches, they are gone, for they surely make wings for themselves, and fly off into the sky like an eagle!
- Ecclesiastes 1:8All this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it: The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content with hearing.
- Ecclesiastes 2:10I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. So all my accomplishments gave me joy; this was my reward for all my effort.
- Ecclesiastes 5:10The one who loves money will never be satisfied with money, he who loves wealth will never be satisfied with his income. This also is futile.
- Ecclesiastes 6:7All of man’s labor is for nothing more than to fill his stomach – yet his appetite is never satisfied!
- Jeremiah 22:17But you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set on killing some innocent person and committing fraud and oppression.
- 1 John 2:16because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Commentaries on Proverbs 27:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20Hell and destruction are never full - How hideous must the soul of a covetous man be, when God compares it to hell and perdition! The eyes of man are never satisfied - As the grave can never be filled up with bodies, nor perdition with souls; so the restless desire, the lust of power, riches, and splendor, is never satisfied. Out of this ever unsatisfied desire spring all the changing fashions, the varied amusements, and the endless modes of getting…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20Hades, the world of the dead, and Destruction (Death, the destroying power, personified) have been at all times and in all countries thought of as all-devouring, insatiable (compare the marginal reference). Yet one thing is equally so, the lust of the eye, the restless craving which grows with what it feeds on Ecclesiastes 1:8.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20Verse 20 Two things are here said to be never satisfied, death and sin. The appetites of the carnal mind for profit or pleasure are always desiring more. Those whose eyes are ever toward the Lord, are satisfied in him, and shall for ever be so.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20Sheol and Abaddon: See study note on Proverbs 15:11. People never find true satisfaction in money, power, or pleasure.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. Men's cupidity is as insatiable as the grave.Read the comment
Topics related to Proverbs 27:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Proverbs 27
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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Commentaries