Verse 11

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.”

Referenced Verses

  • Prov 28:8 : 8 The one who increases his wealth by increasing interest gathers it for someone who is gracious to the needy.
  • Luke 12:20 : 20 But God said to him,‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
  • Prov 15:27 : 27 The one who is greedy for gain troubles his household, but whoever hates bribes will live.
  • Prov 21:6 : 6 Making a fortune by a lying tongue is like a vapor driven back and forth; they seek death.
  • Prov 28:20 : 20 A faithful person will have an abundance of blessings, but the one who hastens to gain riches will not go unpunished.
  • Prov 28:22 : 22 The stingy person hastens after riches and does not know that poverty will overtake him.
  • Eccl 5:13-16 : 13 Materialism Thwarts Enjoyment of Life Here is a misfortune on earth that I have seen: Wealth hoarded by its owner to his own misery. 14 Then that wealth was lost through bad luck; although he fathered a son, he has nothing left to give him. 15 Just as he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked will he return as he came, and he will take nothing in his hand that he may carry away from his toil. 16 This is another misfortune: Just as he came, so will he go. What did he gain from toiling for the wind?
  • Ps 55:23 : 23 But you, O God, will bring them down to the deep Pit. Violent and deceitful people will not live even half a normal lifespan. But as for me, I trust in you.
  • Jer 22:13 : 13 Judgment on Jehoiakim“‘Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.
  • Jer 22:17 : 17 But you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set on killing some innocent person and committing fraud and oppression.
  • Hab 2:6-9 : 6 The Proud Babylonians Are as Good as Dead“But all these nations will someday taunt him and ridicule him with proverbial sayings:‘Woe to the one who accumulates what does not belong to him(How long will this go on?)– he who gets rich by extortion!’ 7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; those who terrify you will spring into action, and they will rob you. 8 Because you robbed many countries, all who are left among the nations will rob you. You have shed human blood and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them. 9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. He does this so he can build his nest way up high and escape the clutches of disaster. 10 Your schemes will bring shame to your house. Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct. 11 For the stones in the walls will cry out, and the wooden rafters will answer back. 12 Woe to the one who builds a city by bloodshed– he who starts a town by unjust deeds.
  • Zeph 1:9 : 9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with wealth taken by violence and deceit.
  • Prov 13:11 : 11 Wealth gained quickly will dwindle away, but the one who gathers it little by little will become rich.
  • Prov 28:16 : 16 The prince who is a great oppressor lacks wisdom, but the one who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.
  • Zech 5:4 : 4 “I will send it out,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”
  • Zech 7:9-9 : 9 “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies said,‘Exercise true judgment and show brotherhood and compassion to each other. 10 You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the resident foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow citizen.’ 11 “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear. 12 Indeed, they made their hearts as hard as diamond, so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had poured out great wrath. 13 “‘It then came about that just as I cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,’ the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had said.
  • Mal 3:5 : 5 “I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, who refuse to help the resident foreigner and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
  • Matt 23:13 : 13 “But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.
  • 1 Tim 6:9 : 9 Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
  • Titus 1:11 : 11 who must be silenced because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught.
  • Jas 5:3-5 : 3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! 4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
  • 2 Pet 2:3 : 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.
  • 2 Pet 2:14 : 14 Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children!
  • Ezek 22:12-13 : 12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD. 13 “‘See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed they have done among you.
  • Hos 12:7-8 : 7 The Lord Refutes Israel’s False Claim of Innocence The businessmen love to cheat; they use dishonest scales. 8 Ephraim boasts,“I am very rich! I have become wealthy! In all that I have done to gain my wealth, no one can accuse me of any offense that is actually sinful.”
  • Amos 3:10 : 10 “They do not know how to do what is right.”(The LORD is speaking.)“They store up the spoils of destructive violence in their fortresses.
  • Amos 8:4-6 : 4 Listen to this, you who trample the needy, and do away with the destitute in the land. 5 You say,“When will the new moon festival be over, so we can sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, so we can open up the grain bins? We’re eager to sell less for a higher price, and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales! 6 We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, a pair of sandals for the needy! We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!”
  • Mic 2:1-2 : 1 Land Robbers Will Lose Their Land Beware wicked schemers, those who devise calamity as they lie in bed. As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, because they have the power to do so. 2 They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. They defraud people of their homes, and deprive people of the land they have inherited.
  • Mic 2:9 : 9 You wrongly evict widows among my people from their cherished homes. You defraud their children of their prized inheritance.
  • Mic 6:10-12 : 10 “I will not overlook, O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away, or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much. 11 I do not condone the use of rigged scales, or a bag of deceptive weights. 12 The city’s wealthy people readily resort to violence; her inhabitants tell lies, their tongues speak deceptive words.
  • Mic 7:3 : 3 They are experts at doing evil; government officials and judges take bribes, prominent men announce what they wish and then they plan it out.
  • Prov 1:18-19 : 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood, they ambush their own lives! 19 Such are the ways of all who gain profit unjustly; it takes away the life of those who obtain it!
  • Prov 23:5 : 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!
  • Isa 1:23-24 : 23 Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs. They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow. 24 Therefore, the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the Powerful One of Israel, says this:“Ah, I will seek vengeance against my adversaries, I will take revenge against my enemies.
  • Jer 5:27-28 : 27 Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful. 28 That is how they have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to the evil things they do. They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it. They do not defend the rights of the poor.