Jeremiah 17:11 (WEB)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

Jeremiah 17:11 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.

Jeremiah 17:12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.

Jeremiah 17:13 Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "partridge", "sits", "eggs", "laid", "gets", "riches", "right", and "middle". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "partridge" and "sits", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "I Yahweh search the mind I try..." into verse 12's "A glorious throne set on high from...", so "partridge" and "sits" belong inside that flow. In Jeremiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "partridge" and "sits" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.