Proverbs 23:5

When you gaze upon riches, ¹  they are gone, for they surely make wings for themselves, and fly off into the sky like an eagle! ² 

Ge 42:36; Job 1:14-17; Ps 39:6; Ps 119:36,37; Pr 27:24; Ec 1:2; Ec 5:13,14; Ec 12:8; Isa 55:2; Jer 22:17; Mt 6:19; 1Co 7:29-31; 1Ti 6:17; Jas 5:1,2; 1Jo 2:16

¹ tc The Kethib is הֲתָעוּף (hata’uf), “do your eyes fly [light] on it?” The Qere is the Hiphil, הֲתָעִיף (hata’if) “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.

² 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.