New King James Version
Proverbs 23:5
5Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
Proverbs 23:5 in other versions
- King James Version (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.
- New International Version (NIV)Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
- English Standard Version (ESV)When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
- New Living Translation (NLT)In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.
Context of Proverbs 23:5
3Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food. 4Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. 6Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies; 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
Read all of Proverbs 23Proverbs 23:5 word by word
הֲתָ֤עִיף עֵינֶ֥יךָ בּ֗וֹ וְֽאֵ֫ינֶ֥נּוּ כִּ֤י עָשֹׂ֣ה יַעֲשֶׂה־לּ֣וֹ כְנָפַ֑יִם כְּ֝נֶ֗שֶׁר יָע֥וּף הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ פRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 23:5
- Psalms 119:36Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness.
- Jeremiah 22:17“Yet your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness, For shedding innocent blood, And practicing oppression and violence.”
- 1 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
- Genesis 42:3So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.
- Genesis 1:2The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
- Genesis 12:8And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
- Isaiah 55:2Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
- 1 Corinthians 7:29But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none,
- Proverbs 27:24For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
- Job 1:14and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
- Psalms 39:6Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them.
- Ecclesiastes 5:13There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.
- Matthew 6:19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
- 1 Timothy 6:17Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
- James 5:1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!
Commentaries on Proverbs 23:5
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Set 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.”Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-5Verses 4-5 Be not of those that will be rich. The things of this world are not happiness and a portion for a soul; those that hold them ever so fast, cannot hold them always, cannot hold them long.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-5Saying 7: Wealth can be a blessing from God (Proverbs 3:9–10, 15–16; 10:22), but some things in life matter more.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 4-54-5. (Compare 1Ti 6:9, 10). thine own wisdom--which regards riches intrinsically as a blessing.Read the comment
Topics related to Proverbs 23:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Proverbs 23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries