Jeremiah 17:11
New International Version
Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.

New Living Translation
Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. At midlife they will lose their riches; in the end, they will become poor old fools.

English Standard Version
Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by justice; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.

Berean Standard Bible
Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.”

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, So is he who gets riches, but not by right; It will leave him in the midst of his days, And at his end he will be a fool.”

New American Standard Bible
“As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is a person who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the middle of his days it will abandon him, And in the end he will be a fool.”

NASB 1995
“As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool.”

NASB 1977
“As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool.”

Legacy Standard Bible
As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a wicked fool.”

Amplified Bible
“Like the partridge that hatches eggs which she has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune in ways that are unjust. It will be lost to him before his days are over, And in the end he will be [nothing but] a fool.”

Christian Standard Bible
He who makes a fortune unjustly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay. In the middle of his life his riches will abandon him, so in the end he will be a fool.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He who makes a fortune unjustly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay. In the middle of his days his riches will abandon him, so in the end he will be a fool.

American Standard Version
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.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
As a partridge that calls to those that it did not hatch, thus he who gains wealth by injustice shall leave it in the middle of his days, and his end will be shameful

Brenton Septuagint Translation
The partridge utters her voice, she gathers eggs which she did not lay; so is a man gaining his wealth unjustly; in the midst of his days his riches shall leave him, and at his latter end he will be a fool.

Contemporary English Version
You cheated others, but everything you gained will fly away, like birds hatched from stolen eggs. Then you will discover what fools you are.

Douay-Rheims Bible
As the partridge hath hatched eggs which she did not lay: so is he that hath gathered riches, and not by right: in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and in his latter end he shall be a fool.

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
A person who gets rich dishonestly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay. During his lifetime, he will lose his wealth. In the end, he will be a godless fool."

Good News Translation
The person who gets money dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the prime of life he will lose his riches, and in the end he is nothing but a fool.

International Standard Version
As a partridge gathers together eggs that it didn't lay, so is a person who amasses wealth unjustly. In the middle of his life it will leave him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool.

JPS Tanakh 1917
As the partridge that broodeth over young which she hath not brought forth, So is he that getteth riches, and not by right; In the midst of his days he shall leave them, And at his end he shall be a fool.

Literal Standard Version
A partridge hatching, and not bringing forth, | [Is] one making wealth, and not by right, | In the midst of his days he forsakes it, | And in his latter end—he is a fool.”

Majority Standard Bible
Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.”

New American Bible
A partridge that broods but does not hatch are those who acquire wealth unjustly: In midlife it will desert them; in the end they are only fools.

NET Bible
The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool."

New Revised Standard Version
Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay, so are all who amass wealth unjustly; in mid-life it will leave them, and at their end they will prove to be fools.

New Heart 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."

Webster's Bible Translation
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 middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool.

Young's Literal Translation
A partridge hatching, and not bringing forth, Is one making wealth, and not by right, In the midst of his days he doth forsake it, And in his latter end -- he is a fool.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Sin and Punishment of Judah
10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve. 11Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.”

Cross References
Luke 12:20
But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?'

Psalm 49:13
This is the fate of the self-confident and their followers who endorse their sayings. Selah

Jeremiah 6:13
"For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.

Jeremiah 8:10
Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.

Jeremiah 22:13
"Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,

Jeremiah 22:17
"But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression."


Treasury of Scripture

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.

sitteth.

Jeremiah 5:27,28
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich…

Jeremiah 22:13,17
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; …

Proverbs 1:18,19
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives…

shall leave.

Psalm 55:23
But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.

Proverbs 23:5
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

Ecclesiastes 5:13-16
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt…

a fool.

Luke 12:20
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

Jump to Previous
Brood Desert Eggs End Ended Fool Foolish Forsake Forth Fortune Gains Gathers Gets Getteth Getting Half Hatcheth Laid Life Makes Making Means Midst Partridge Prove Riches Right Sits Sitteth Together Unjust Unjustly Wealth Young
Jump to Next
Brood Desert Eggs End Ended Fool Foolish Forsake Forth Fortune Gains Gathers Gets Getteth Getting Half Hatcheth Laid Life Makes Making Means Midst Partridge Prove Riches Right Sits Sitteth Together Unjust Unjustly Wealth Young
Jeremiah 17
1. The captivity of Judah for her sin.
5. Trust in man is cursed;
7. in God is blessed.
9. The deceitful heart cannot deceive God.
12. The salvation of God.
15. The prophet complains of the mockers of his prophecy.
19. He is sent to renew the covenant in hallowing the Sabbath.














(11) As the partridge sitteth on eggs . . .--Better, following the LXX. and Vulg., and the marginal reading of the Authorised Version, heaps up eggs and hath not laid them. The words point to a popular belief among the Jews that the partridge steals the eggs of other birds and adds them to her own, with the result that when the eggs are hatched the broods desert her (see Bibl. Educ. iii. p. 73). It thus became a parable of the covetous man, whose avarice leads him to pile up riches which are not rightly his, and which after a while "make to themselves wings" and are seen no more. Modern naturalists have not observed this habit, but it is probable that the belief originated in the practice of the cuckoo laying its eggs in the nest of the partridge, as in that of other birds. The cuckoo (Leviticus 11:16; Deuteronomy 14:15) was and is a common bird in Palestine (Bibl. Educ. 2 p. 363).

Shall leave them in the midst of his days.--If we retain the rendering of the Authorised Version the words may refer to the practice of hunting the partridge by driving it from its nest and then striking it with a club (see Bibl. Educ. iii. p. 73). Many commentators, however, adopt the rendering, they (the riches) shall leave him. As covetousness was the besetting sin of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:17), the prediction may have pointed specially to him.

Verse 11. - As the partridge... hatcheth them not; rather, as the partridge sitteth on eggs which it hath not laid; a proverbial illustration of the Divine retributive justice. The prophet assumes the truth of a popular belief respecting the partridge (still a common bird in Judaea), that it brooded upon eggs which it had not laid. As the young birds soon leave the false mother, so unjustly acquired riches soon forsake their possessors. [Canon Tristram rejects this explanation, on the ground that the statement is not true to natural history; the partridge neither steals the broods of others nor needs to do so, as it lays a very large number of eggs. But grammar requires us to translate as suggested above, and consequently excludes any other explanation-May not the unusually large number of the eggs laid by the partridge have led to the fancy that they could not be all its own?]

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Like a partridge
קֹרֵ֤א (qō·rê)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7124: A caller, partridge

hatching eggs
דָגַר֙ (ḏā·ḡar)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1716: To gather together as a brood

it did not
וְלֹ֣א (wə·lō)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

lay
יָלָ֔ד (yā·lāḏ)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3205: To bear young, to beget, medically, to act as midwife, to show lineage

is the man who makes
עֹ֥שֶׂה (‘ō·śeh)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

a fortune
עֹ֖שֶׁר (‘ō·šer)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6239: Wealth

unjustly.
בְמִשְׁפָּ֑ט (ḇə·miš·pāṭ)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4941: A verdict, a sentence, formal decree, divine law, penalty, justice, privilege, style

In the middle
בַּחֲצִ֤י (ba·ḥă·ṣî)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 2677: The half, middle

of his days
יָמָיו֙ (yā·māw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

his riches will desert him,
יַעַזְבֶ֔נּוּ (ya·‘az·ḇen·nū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5800: To loosen, relinquish, permit

and in the end
וּבְאַחֲרִית֖וֹ (ū·ḇə·’a·ḥă·rî·ṯōw)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 319: The last, end, the future, posterity

he will be
יִהְיֶ֥ה (yih·yeh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

the fool.
נָבָֽל׃ (nā·ḇāl)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 5036: Foolish, senseless


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 17:11 As the partridge that sits on eggs (Jer.)
Jeremiah 17:10
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