1 Timothy 6:9

But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition.

Paul used two metaphors in this verse to describe the people whose minds are set upon becoming rich. They are caught in a "snare," in the sense of a trapped animal, which once captured is unable to recover itself. The other is that of an exhausted swimmer who is drowned in the flood.

They that are minded ... is also translated "they that desire to be." The people here condemned are not merely the rich, specifically, but those whose desire and intention are focused upon that one thing. This does not decry lawful ambition and application in one's work. White said:

What is here condemned is not ambition to excel in some lawful department of human activity, which indeed may bring an increase in riches ... but the having of a single eye to the accumulation of money by any means.[16]

Destruction and perdition ... "The two words taken together imply the utter ruin and destruction of body and soul,"[17] being the double disaster brought on by the foolish and hurtful lusts by which the seekers of riches destroy themselves.

[16] Newport J. D. White, op. cit., p. 143.

[17] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 121.