Proverbs 27:20

Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Hell	שְׁא֣וֹל she.'ol	H7585	Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean re… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
destruction	אֲבַדּוֹן ʼăbaddôwn	H11	abstract
never	לֹ֣א lo'	H3808	not (the simple or abs. negation) · negative particle
full	תִשְׂבַּ֑עְנָה tis.Ba'.nah	H7646	to sate · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine plural
eyes	וְעֵינֵ֥י ve.'ei.Nei	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + noun, common feminine dual construct
man	הָ֝אָדָ֗ם ha.'a.Dam	H120	ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
satisfied	תִשְׂבַּֽעְנָה tis.Ba'.nah	H7646	to sate · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Ecclesiastes 1:8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
1 John 2:16 For 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 wo…
Proverbs 30:15-16 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enou…
Ecclesiastes 6:7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
Habakkuk 2:5 Yea 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, a…
Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 And 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 thi…
Ecclesiastes 4:8 There 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…
Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 27:20

Two things are here said to be insatiable, and they are two things near of kin - death and sin. 1. Death is insatiable. The first death, the second death, both are so. The grave is not clogged with the multitude of dead bodies that are daily thrown into it, but is still an open sepulchre, and cries, Give, give. Hell also has enlarged itself, and still has room for the damned spirits that are committed to that prison. Tophet is deep and large, Isa 30:33. 2. Sin is insatiable: The eyes of man are never satisfied, nor the appetites of the carnal mind towards profit or pleasure. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is he the loves silver satisfied with silver. Men labour for that which surf…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 27:20

Men's cupidity is as insatiable as the grave.

John Gill on 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 (o), the many, or the more; and yet the grave is never satisfied with them, Proverbs 30:16. Or hell, the plac…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 27:20

The following proverb has, in common with the preceding, the catchword האדם, and the emphatic repetition of the same expression: 20 The under-world and hell are not satisfied, And the eyes of man are not satisfied. A Kerı̂ ואבדון is here erroneously noted by Lwenstein, Stuart, and others. The Kerı̂ to ואבדּה is here ואבדּו, which secures the right utterance of the ending, and is altogether wanting (Note: In Gesen. Lex. this אבדה stands to the present day under אבדה.) in many MSS (e.g., Cod. Jaman). The stripping off of the ן from the ending ון is common in the names of persons and places (e.g., שׁלמה, lxx Σολομών and שׁלה); we write at pleasure either ow or oh (e.g., מגדּו), Olsh. 215g. אבד…

The Church Fathers

Hell and destruction will not be full, etc. The torments of hell will not be filled, by receiving an end; similarly, the intentions of those who are wise in human matters are insatiable in the desire to sin. And hence they pay the penalties without end because they had the will to sin without end, if they had the nature to live without end.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Abaddon — Destruction, the Hebrew name (equivalent to the Greek Apollyon, i.e., destroyer) of “the angel of the bottomless pit” (Rev. 9:11). It is rendered “destruction” in Job 28:22; 31:12; 26:6; Prov. 15:11;…
Curiosity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Eye · .Of evil — .Of evil
Eye, The · Not satisfied with seeing — Not satisfied with seeing
Hades · 2. The realm (state) of the — 2. The realm (state) of the
Hell · scriptures — scriptures

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 27:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 27:20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 27:20

John Gill on Proverbs 27:20

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 27:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 27:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 27:20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 27:20

John Gill on Proverbs 27:20

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 27:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 27:20

Rashi on Proverbs 27:20