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. As the partridge - קרא kore. It is very likely that this was a bird different from our partridge. The text Dr. Blayney translates thus: -
(As) the kore that hatcheth what it doth not lay (So is) he who getteth riches, and not according to right.
"The covetous man," says Dahler, "who heaps up riches by unjust ways, is compared to a bird which hatches the eggs of other fowls. And as the young, when hatched, and able at all to shift for themselves, abandon her who is not their mother, and leave her nothing to compensate her trouble, so the covetous man loses those unjustly-gotten treasures, and the fruit of his labor."
And at his end shall be a fool - Shall be reputed as such. He was a fool all the way through; he lost his soul to get wealth, and this wealth he never enjoyed. To him also are applicable those strong words of the poet: -
"O cursed lust of gold! when for thy sake
The wretch throws up his interest in both worlds.
First starved in this, then damned in that to come."
Blair.