SEV Biblia, Chapter 30:15
¶ La sanguijuela tiene dos hijas que se llaman , dame, dame. Tres cosas hay que nunca se sacian; aun la cuarta nunca dice, basta:
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Proverbs 30:15
Verse 15. 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 hqwl[ 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 hqwla 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, chap. xx., 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, &c.
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: th bdellh yugaterev hsan agaphsei agapwmenai, kai ai treiv autai ouk enepimplasan authn, kai h tetarth ouk hrkesyh eipeinů 'ikanon; "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." After all, I think my own conjecture the most probable. Alukah is a proper name, and the two daughters were of the description I have mentioned.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 15. The horse leech hath two daughters, [crying], Give, give , etc.] Or “the blood sucker” f855 ; so it began to be called in the times of Pliny f856 , to which the last generation of men may well be compared; blood thirsty creatures, that never have enough, and are not satisfied with the flesh of men, nor with their blood; and such particularly the Papists are: and not only this generation of men, but there are three or four things besides, which resemble the horse leech for its insatiableness; for the horse leech has not two daughters only, but more. Some, by her two daughters, understand the two forks of its tongue, which some naturalists say it has; though later ones, and more diligent inquirers into those things, find it has not; but either with its three teeth, or by the compression of its mouth on all sides, sucks the blood, and will not let go until it is filled with it f857 : others have proposed the two sorts of leeches as its daughters, the sea leech, and that which is found in fenny and marshy places. But it is best, by its daughters, to understand such that resemble it, and are like unto it; as those that are of like nature and quality, and do the same things as others, are called their children; (see Matthew 23:31,33 John 8:44) ( John 3:10); and so the number of its daughters, which are always craving and asking for more, and are never satisfied, are not only two, but more, as follows; there are three [things] ; or, “[yea], there are three [things]” [that] are never satiated: [yea], four [things] say not, [It is] enough ; not two only, but three, and even four, that are quite insatiable and are as follow. The Syriac version renders the whole thus, “the horse leech hath three beloved daughters; three, “I say”, they are, which are not satisfied; and the fourth says not, It is enough.”
Some, as Abendana observes, interpret it of hell, by a transposition of the letters; because everyone that perverts his ways descends thither.
Bochart interprets it of fate, and so Noldius f859 : and Schultens renders the word, the most monstrous of evils; it signifying in the Arabic language, as he observes, anything monstrous and dreadful; such as wood demons, serpents, and dragons, which devour men and beasts. Suidas f860 , by the “horse leech”, understands sin, whose daughters are fornication, envy, and idolatry, which are never satisfied by evil actions, and the fourth is evil concupiscence.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 15-17 - Cruelty and covetousness are two daughters of the horseleech, tha still cry, "Give, give," and they are continually uneasy to themselves Four things never are satisfied, to which these devourers are compared Those are never rich that are always coveting. And many who have com to a bad end, have owned that their wicked courses began by despisin their parents' authority.
Original Hebrew
לעלוקה 5936 שׁתי 8147 בנות 1323 הב 3051 הב 3051 שׁלושׁ 7969 הנה 2007 לא 3808 תשׂבענה 7646 ארבע 702 לא 3808 אמרו 559 הון׃ 1952
