Proverbs 23:5

23:5 When you gaze upon riches, they are gone,

for they surely make wings for themselves,

and fly off into the sky like an eagle!

Proverbs 23:33

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things,

and your mind will speak perverse things.


tc The Kethib is הֲתָעוּף (hatauf), “do your eyes fly [light] on it?” The Qere is the Hiphil, הֲתָעִיף (hataif) “do you cause your eyes to fly on it?” But the line is difficult. The question may be indirect: If you cast your eyes on it, it is gone – when you think you are close, it slips away.

tn The term “riches” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation based on the previous verse.

sn This seventh saying warns people not to expend all their energy trying to get rich because riches are fleeting (cf. Instruction of Amememope, chap. 7, 9:10-11 which says, “they have made themselves wings like geese and have flown away to heaven”). In the ancient world the symbol of birds flying away signified fleeting wealth.

tn The feminine plural of זָר (zar, “strange things”) refers to the trouble one has in seeing and speaking when drunk.