Proverbs 30:15-16
Unrestrained desire is never satisfied and ultimately consumes those who follow it.
15 “The leech has two daughters: ‘Give, give.’ “There are three things that are never satisfied; four that don’t say, ‘Enough:’
16 Sheol, the barren womb; the earth that is not satisfied with water; and the fire that doesn’t say, ‘Enough.’
Unrestrained desire is never satisfied and ultimately consumes those who follow it.
To illustrate the destructive nature of insatiable desire through vivid imagery that exposes the endless appetite of greed and death.
Proverbs 30:15-16 follows Proverbs 30:11-14, where Agur exposes a generation marked by family dishonor, self-deceived purity, pride, and predatory oppression of the poor. Verse 14 ends with devouring imagery: teeth like swords and jaws like knives consume the poor and needy. Verses 15-16 continue that theme through the image of the leech and four insatiable realities. The passage also follows Agur’s prayer in Proverbs 30:7-9 for neither poverty nor riches but daily bread. The contrast is sharp. Agur prays for contented provision, while the leech-like appetite cries, 'Give! Give!' These verses begin a sequence of numerical sayings in Proverbs 30, where Agur observes patterns in creation and human life to teach moral wisdom.
Agur’s numerical saying uses creation and common experience to expose moral reality. Leeches were known bloodsucking creatures, and the image of two daughters crying 'Give! Give!' personifies relentless demand. The four insatiable examples draw from universal realities in the ancient world: Sheol receiving the dead, the barren womb longing for children, dry land absorbing water, and fire consuming fuel. In an agrarian society vulnerable to drought, infertility, death, and fire, these images carried immediate force.
The Sayings of Agur: Humility, the Word of God, Contentment, Wonder, and the Limits of Human Wisdom
Wisdom begins with humble confession before the Holy One, trusts the flawless word of God, prays for truthful contentment, learns from creation, rejects arrogance and greed, and restrains self-exalting speech before it produces strife.