Jeremiah 17:11
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the middle of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
American King James Version (AKJV)
As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the middle of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
American Standard Version (ASV)
As the partridge that sitteth on eggs which she hath not laid, so is he that getteth riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Like the partridge, getting eggs together but not producing young, is a man who gets wealth but not by right; before half his days are ended, it will go from him, and at his end he will be foolish.
Webster's Revision
As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
World English Bible
As the partridge that sits on [eggs] which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.
English Revised Version (ERV)
As the partridge that gathereth young which she hath not brought forth, so is he that getteth riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.
Clarke's Jeremiah 17:11 Bible Commentary
As the partridge - קרא kore. It is very likely that this was a bird different from our partridge. The text Dr. Blayney translates thus: -
(As) the kore that hatcheth what it doth not lay (So is) he who getteth riches, and not according to right.
"The covetous man," says Dahler, "who heaps up riches by unjust ways, is compared to a bird which hatches the eggs of other fowls. And as the young, when hatched, and able at all to shift for themselves, abandon her who is not their mother, and leave her nothing to compensate her trouble, so the covetous man loses those unjustly-gotten treasures, and the fruit of his labor."
And at his end shall be a fool - Shall be reputed as such. He was a fool all the way through; he lost his soul to get wealth, and this wealth he never enjoyed. To him also are applicable those strong words of the poet: -
"O cursed lust of gold! when for thy sake
The wretch throws up his interest in both worlds.
First starved in this, then damned in that to come."
Blair.
Barnes's Jeremiah 17:11 Bible Commentary
Rather, "As the partridge hath gathered eggs which it laid not, so ..." The general sense is: the covetous man is as sure to reap finally disappointment only as is the partridge which piles up eggs not of her own laying, and is unable to hatch them.
A fool - A Nabal. See 1 Samuel 25:25.
Wesley's Jeremiah 17:11 Bible Commentary
17:11 Hatcheth them not - Having lost them, either by some man that has taken them from her, or by some vermin or wild beast. A fool - Shall lose it again before he dies, and then shall understand what a fool he was.