Bible Strands
Proverbs 30:16
Sheol, the barren womb, land never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author of Proverbs 30 addresses the reader while cataloging natural forces that defy limits, directly responding to the structural cue of "three... four" in verse 15.
The words — שְׁאוֹל (she'ol) translates to Sheol, and רַחַם (racham) means womb, combined with עֹצֶר (otser) to denote a barren condition. אֶרֶץ (erets) means land and אֵשׁ (esh) means fire, both explicitly described as fundamentally unsatisfied.
The thread — The motif of insatiable Sheol runs through Proverbs 27:20 and Habakkuk 2:5, where human appetite and arrogance are repeatedly compared to its endless depth.
Why it lands — The text lists four entities that consume without ever reaching completion, establishing a baseline of natural excess before verse 17 shifts to human moral failure.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 27:20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- Habakkuk 2:5 and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.
- Genesis 30:1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.