New International Version
Proverbs 27:20
20Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.
Proverbs 27:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.
Context of Proverbs 27:20
18The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored. 19As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart. Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes. 21The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are tested by their praise. 22Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them.
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 30:15“The leech has two daughters. ‘Give! Give!’ they cry. “There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:
- Habakkuk 2:5indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.
- Proverbs 23:5Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
- Ecclesiastes 1:8All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
- Ecclesiastes 2:10I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.
- Ecclesiastes 5:10Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.
- Ecclesiastes 6:7Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied.
- Jeremiah 22:17“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”
- 1 John 2:16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but 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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