Proverbs 23:5

Raise not thine eyes to riches, which thou mayest not have; for those shall make to themselves pens, as of an eagle, and they shall fly into heaven. (Raise not up thine eyes to riches, which thou cannot hold onto; for they shall make wings for themselves, like an eagle, and they shall fly away into the heavens.)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The 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.

In Context

4Do not thou travail to be made rich, but set thou measure to thy prudence. (Do not thou labour to be made rich, but set thou a limit to what thou can achieve.)

6Eat thou not with an envious man, and desire thou not his meats; (Do not thou eat with the envious, and do not thou desire his food;)

Read all of Proverbs 23

Cross References

Job 1:14a messenger came to Job, and said to him, Thine oxen eared, and thy female asses [were] pastured beside them; (a messenger came to Job, and said to him, Thy oxen plowed, and thy female donkeys were pastured beside them;)

Psalms 39:6Nevertheless a man passeth in an image; but also he is troubled vainly. He treasureth; and he know not, to whom he shall gather those things. (And a person passeth by like a shadow; and he travaileth, or laboureth, in vain, that is, he worketh for nothing. For he buildeth up treasure; yet he truly knoweth not, for whom he gathered those things.)

Proverbs 27:24For thou shalt not have power continually; but a crown shall be given to thee in generation and into generation. (For thou shalt not have wealth forever; nor shall a crown endure for generations and generations.)

Ecclesiastes 5:13Also another sickness is full evil, which I saw under the sun; riches (that) be kept into the harm of their lord.

Isaiah 55:2Why weigh ye (out) silver, and not in loaves, and your travail, not in fullness? (or Why spend ye your silver, but not for loaves, and the fruits of your labour, but ye be not fulfilled?) Ye hearing hear me, and eat ye (that which is) good, and your soul shall delight in fatness.

Jeremiah 39:12Take thou him, and set thine eyes on him, and do thou nothing of evil to him; but as he will, so do thou to him, (or but whatever he desireth, do thou for him).

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 23:5-6

4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. 5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. As some are given to appetite ( v. 2 ) so others to covetousness, and those Solomon here takes to task. Men cheat themselves as much by setting their hearts on money (though it seems most substantial) as by setting them on dainties. Observe, I. How he dissuades the covetous man from toiling and tormenting himself ( v. 4 ). "Do… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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