Proverbs 30:15 NIV: "The leech has two daughters. 'Give! Give!' they cry. "There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, 'Enough!':

Proverbs 30:15

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◄ Proverbs 30:15 ►

New International Version (© 2011)
"The leech has two daughters. 'Give! Give!' they cry. "There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, 'Enough!':

King James Bible
The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:

American Standard Version
The horseleach hath two daughters, crying , Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, Yea , four that say not, Enough:

Young's Literal Translation
To the leech are two daughters, 'Give, give, Lo, three things are not satisfied, Four have not said 'Sufficiency;'

Proverbs 30:15 Additional Translations
Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

The horseleech hath two daughters, crying, Give, give - "This horseleech," says Calmet, "is Covetousness, and her two daughters are Avarice and Ambition. They never say, It is enough; they are never satisfied; they are never contented."

Many explanations have been given of this verse; but as all the versions agree in render ing עלוקה alukah the horseleech or blood-sucker, the general meaning collected has been, "There are persons so excessively covetous and greedy, that they will scarcely let any live but themselves; and when they lay hold of any thing by which they may profit, they never let go their hold till they have extracted the last portion of good from it." Horace has well expressed this disposition, and by the same emblem, applied to a poor poet, who seizes on and extracts all he can from an author of repute, and obliges all to hear him read his wretched verses.

Quem vero arripuit, tenet, occiditque legendo,

Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris,

Hirudo. De arte poet., ver. 475.

"But if he seize you, then the torture dread;

He fastens on you till he reads you dead;

And like a leech, voracious of his food,

Quits not his cruel hold till gorged with blood."

Francis.

The word אלוקה alukah, which we here translate horseleech, is read in no other part of the Bible. May it not, like Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, and Ucal, be a proper name, belonging to some well-known woman of his acquaintance, and well known to the public, who had two daughters notorious for their covetousness and lechery? And at first view the following verse may be thought to confirm this supposition: "There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough." The grave, the barren womb the earth, the fire. What an astonishing simiiarity there is between this and the following institute, taken from the Code of Hindoo Laws, chapter 20, sec. i., p. 203.

"A woman is never satisfied with the copulation of man, no more than a fire is satisfied with burning fuel; or the main ocean is with receiving the rivers; or death, with the dying of men and animals." You can no more satisfy these two daughters of Alukah than you can the grave, etc.

Some of the rabbins have thought that alukah signifies destiny, or the necessity of dying, which they say has two daughters, Eden and Gehenna, paradise and hell. The former has never enough of righteous souls; the latter, of the wicked. Similar to them is the opinion of Bochart, who thinks alukah means destiny, and the two daughters, the grave and hell; into the first of which the body descends after death, and into the second, the soul.

The Septuagint gives it a curious turn, by connecting the fifteenth with the sixteenth verse: Τῃ Βδελλῃ θυγατερες ησαν αγαπησει αγαπωμεναι, και αἱ τρεις αὑται ουκ ενεπιμπλασαν αυτην, και ἡ τεταρτη ουκ ηρκεσθη ειπειν· Ἱκανον; "The horseleech had three well-beloved daughters; and these three were not able to satisfy her desire: and the fourth was not satisfied, so as to say, It is enough."

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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

the horseleach

Isaiah 57:3 But draw near here, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

Ezekiel 16:44-46 Behold, every one that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter...

Matthew 23:32 Fill you up then the measure of your fathers.

John 8:39,44 They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children...

give

Isaiah 56:11,12 Yes, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way...

Hosea 4:18 Their drink is sour: they have committed prostitution continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give you.

Micah 7:3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asks, and the judge asks for a reward; and the great man...

Romans 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly...