Job 20:20

For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; ¹  he does not let anything he desires ²  escape. ³ 

"Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.

"Because he knew no quiet within him, He does not retain anything he desires.

He was always greedy but never satisfied. Of all the things he dreamed about, nothing remains.

"Such God-denying people are never content with what they have or who they are; their greed drives them relentlessly.

There is no peace for him in his wealth, and no salvation for him in those things in which he took delight.

"They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape.

"Because he knows no quietness in his heart, He will not save anything he desires.

For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; ¹  he does not let anything he desires ²  escape. ³ 

¹ tn Heb “belly,” which represents his cravings, his desires and appetites. The “satisfaction” is actually the word for “quiet; peace; calmness; ease.” He was driven by greedy desires, or he felt and displayed an insatiable greed.

² tn The verb is the passive participle of the verb חָמַד (khamad) which is one of the words for “covet; desire.” This person is controlled by his desires; there is no escape. He is a slave.

³ tn The verb is difficult to translate in this line. It basically means “to cause to escape; to rescue.” Some translate this verb as “it is impossible to escape”; this may work, but is uncertain. Others translate the verb in the sense of saving something else: N. Sarna says, “Of his most cherished possessions he shall save nothing” (“The Interchange of the Preposition bet and min in Biblical Hebrew,” JBL 78 [1959]: 315-16). The RSV has “he will save nothing in which he delights”; NIV has “he cannot save himself by his treasure.”