Jeremiah 17:11 As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right… Allusion is here made to a well-known fact in natural history. If a partridge or a quail or a robin brood the eggs of another species, the young will not stay with the one that happened to brood them, but at the first opportunity will assort with their own species. Those who have been brought up in the country have seen the dismay of the farmyard hen, having brooded aquatic fowls, when after a while they tumble into their natural element — the water. So the text suggests that a man may gather under his wings the property of others, but it will after a while escape; it will leave the man in a sorry predicament. (T. De Witt Talmage.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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