Bible Strands
Proverbs 23:5
When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wisdom teacher addresses a young learner in a sequence of warnings about wealth and social feasting, immediately following an instruction to restrain oneself rather than exhaust efforts for riches.
The words — עֵינֶיְךָ ('ei.ne.kha) translates as "your eyes," and יַעֲשֶׂה־ כְנָפַיִם (ya.'a.seh khe.na.fa.yim) literally means "it makes wings."
The thread — This theme of wealth’s impermanence appears in Proverbs 27:24, which states riches do not last forever, and Matthew 6:19, which contrasts earthly treasures with thieves who break in and steal.
Why it lands — The text demands practical restraint, warning that fixating on wealth guarantees its loss and urging the reader to stop exhausting himself for what cannot be kept.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 27:24 for riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to every generation.
- 1 John 2:16 For 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.
- Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
- 1 Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.
- James 5:1 Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- Psalms 119:36 Turn my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetous gain.
- Genesis 42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”
- Ecclesiastes 12:8 “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile!”
- Job 1:14 a messenger came and reported to Job: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby,
- Psalms 39:6 Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.