Proverbs 23:5
in Proverbs 23When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
KJV
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
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This verse in Proverbs 23
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Do not wear yourself out
on Proverbs 23:4-5
"Do not wear yourself out to get rich" sets the limit, and "be wise enough to restrain yourself" names the discipline that keeps it. Wealth "makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky." The warning falls on the striving heart.
This site's exposition
When you glance at wealth
Wealth disappears while you glance at it. It grows wings, flying like an eagle to the sky and leaving by its own motion with no thief needed. John Gill and Matthew Henry aim the warning at wearing yourself out to get rich and at the heart behind it.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Do not lift your eyes to riches, etc. Do not lift your mind to search the secrets of divinity, which you cannot penetrate. For these are open only to the heavenly citizens.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Wilt . . . eyes--As the eyes fly after or seek riches, they are not, that is, either become transitory or unsatisfying; fully expressed by their flying away.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Set thine eyes - literally, as in the margin, i. e., “gaze eagerly upon;” and then we get an emphatic parallelism with the words that follow, “they fly away as an eagle toward heaven;” “certainly make themselves wings.”
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲתָ֤עִיף | hatauf | ¿ do you cause to fly | H5774 → | 26 times |
| עֵינֶ֥יךָ | ʾeineikha | eyes your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| בּ֗וֹ | bo | on it | ||
| וְֽאֵ֫ינֶ֥נּוּ | veeinenu | and there not [is] it | H369 → | 789 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עָשֹׂ֣ה | ʾasoh | certainly <to make> | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| יַעֲשֶׂה־ | yaaseh- | it makes | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| לּ֣וֹ | lo | for itself | ||
| כְנָפַ֑יִם | khenafayim | wings | H3671 → | |
| כְּ֝נֶ֗שֶׁר | kenesher | like an eagle | H5404 → | 26 times |
| יָע֥וּף | veayef | it flies away | H5774 → | 26 times |
| הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ פ | hashamayim | the heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
הֲתָ֤עִיף¿ do you cause to fly
hataufH5774 →26 times
עֵינֶ֥יךָeyes your
ʾeineikhaH5869 →887 times
בּ֗וֹon it
bo
וְֽאֵ֫ינֶ֥נּוּand there not [is] it
veeinenuH369 →789 times
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
עָשֹׂ֣הcertainly <to make>
ʾasohH6213 →2628 times
יַעֲשֶׂה־it makes
yaaseh-H6213 →2628 times
לּ֣וֹfor itself
lo
כְנָפַ֑יִםwings
khenafayimH3671 →
כְּ֝נֶ֗שֶׁרlike an eagle
kenesherH5404 →26 times
יָע֥וּףit flies away
veayefH5774 →26 times
הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ פthe heavens
hashamayimH8064 →421 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 6:19Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- 1 John 2:15–16
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Luke 12:21
This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”
- Proverbs 23:4–5
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
- Proverbs 11:4
Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
- Hebrews 13:5
Through
1 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
it leads to
- Romans 13:14
Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
- Galatians 5:17
For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
- Psalms 119:36–37
Turn my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetous gain.
- Romans 13:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.