Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 18:16 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men. "
Proverbs 18:16
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
14 A man’s spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?
15 The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
16 A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.
17 He who pleads his cause first seems right— until another comes and questions him.
18 The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.
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He had already shown the strong power of gifts, meaning bribes, before, in Proverbs 17:8 and Proverbs 17:23. Here he shows the force of gifts in another sense, as presents given by people of lower rank to those above them, people who have much more than they do.
A good present can go a long way. First, it can help a man gain freedom. A gift, if he is in prison, may win his release. There are courtiers, men who serve in a king’s court, who, if they use their influence even for mistreated innocence, expect a reward for it. Or, if a poor man does not know how to get an audience with a great man, he may do it by paying a fee to that man’s servants or by giving a gift to the man himself. Such gifts will make room for him.
Second, it can help a man rise in rank. It can bring him to sit among great men, in honor and power. This shows how corrupt the world is, when a man’s gifts can get him what he wants, even if he does not deserve it or is not fit for it. So it is no wonder that some who take bribes in office first gave bribes to get their office. He who bought the law can sell it.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 18:1
"A man who isolates himself pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment."
Proverbs 18:2
"A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion."
Proverbs 18:3
"When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace."
Proverbs 18:4
"The words of a man’s mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook."
Proverbs 18:5
"To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice."
Proverbs 18:6
"A fool’s lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings."
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