Proverbs 23:5
When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
In context
2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. 3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. 4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. 5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. 6 Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, 7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 8 You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.
Compare in other versions
- KJV King James Version
— Proverbs 23:5 in the KJV
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
- NIV New International Version
— Proverbs 23:5 in the NIV
Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.