This verse is in the form of a proverbial statement, but the meaning is not completely clear. One interpretation compares money gotten dishonestly with eggs stolen by a bird from the nest of other birds. When the young birds hatch, they will go to their real mother; and likewise money gained dishonestly will “fly away” from the person who got it. This is the source of Good News Translation “like a bird that hatches eggs it didn’t lay.” Another interpretation, however, is that just as the brooding female partridge does not hatch all of her eggs, so the person who has become rich dishonestly will lose his wealth. The translation of this could be “When a person becomes rich by dishonest means, it is like a partridge sitting on her eggs and some don’t hatch. In midlife that person will lose his wealth.”

The partridge is the rendering of many translations, though the exact species of bird is unknown. If partridges are not known in an area, translators can say “bird.”

In Hebrew the first part of the verse is somewhat compressed: “A partridge gathers and does not give birth.” The meaning may be as Good News Translation has expressed it, but it is equally possible to say “A partridge sits on her eggs without them hatching.” See the example above in the discussion on the meaning of the proverb.

To gain riches not by right is to gain them “dishonestly” (Good News Translation).

In the midst of his days they will leave him: In the midst of his days is “In the prime of life” (Good News Translation), “when he has lived only half his life,” or “when his life is only half over.” The they that will leave him are the riches.

At his end he will be a fool: The word fool occurs only here in Jeremiah; its most frequent occurrences are in Psalms (14.1; 39.8; 53.1; 74.18, where Revised Standard Version has “impious”) and Proverbs (17.7, 21; 30.22). Most translators express this line as “in the end he will prove to be a fool.”

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch restructures the verse considerably:

• Whoever gains riches dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs that are not its own and must watch as the young fly away: in the prime of life he must give up everything, and finally stand there with empty hands.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .