Proverbs 27:20

As ¹  Death and Destruction are never satisfied, ²  so the eyes of a person ³  are never satisfied. ⁴ 

Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied.

Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.

Hell has a voracious appetite, and lust just never quits.

The underworld and Abaddon are never full, and the eyes of man have never enough.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and human eyes are never satisfied.

Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.

As ¹  Death and Destruction are never satisfied, ²  so the eyes of a person ³  are never satisfied. ⁴ 

¹ tn The term “as” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation in light of the analogy.

² sn Countless generations of people have gone into the world below; yet “death” is never satisfied – it always takes more. The line personifies Death and Destruction. It forms the emblem in the parallelism.

³ tn Heb “eyes of a man.” This expression refers to the desires – what the individual looks longingly on. Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:34 (one of the rabbinic Midrashim) says, “No man dies and has one-half of what he wanted.”

⁴ tc The LXX contains a scribal addition: “He who fixes his eye is an abomination to the Lord, and the uninstructed do not restrain their tongues.” This is unlikely to be original.