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Selected Verse: Proverbs 25:6 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Pr 25:6	Strong Concordance	Put not forth [01921] thyself in the presence [06440] of the king [04428], and stand [05975] not in the place [04725] of great [01419] men:
	King James	Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men:

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Do not intrude into the presence of the king, for the elevation of the humble is honorable, but the humbling of the proud disgraceful (Luk 14:8-10).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Do not intrude into the presence of the king, for the elevation of the humble is honorable, but the humbling of the proud disgraceful (Luk 14:8-10).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The pushing, boastful temper is, in the long run, suicidal. It is wiser as well as nobler to take the lower place at first in humility, than to take it afterward with shame. Compare Luk 14:8-10, which is one of the few instances in which our Lord's teaching was fashioned, as to its outward form, upon that of this book.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
There now follows a second proverb with מלך, as the one just explained was a second with מלכים: a warning against arrogance before kings and nobles. 6 Display not thyself before the king, And approach not to the place of the great. 7 For better than one say to thee, "Come up hither," Than that they humble thee before a prince, Whom thine eyes had seen. The גּדלים are those, like Pro 18:16, who by virtue of their descent and their office occupy a lofty place of honour in the court and in the state. נדיב (vid., under Pro 8:16) is the noble in disposition and the nobleman by birth, a general designation which comprehends the king and the princes. The Hithpa. התהדּר is like the reflex forms Pro 12:9; Pro 13:7, for it signifies to conduct oneself as הדוּר or נהדּר (vid., Pro 20:29), to play the part of one highly distinguished. עמד has, 6b, its nearest signification: it denotes, not like נצּב, standing still, but approaching to, e.g., Jer 7:2. The reason given in Pro 25:7 harmonizes with the rule of wisdom, Luk 14:10.: better is the saying to thee, i.e., that one say to thee (Ewald, 304b), עלה הנּה (so the Olewejored is to be placed), προσανάβηθι ἀνώτερον (thus in Luke), than that one humble thee לפני נדיב, not: because of a prince (Hitzig), for לפני nowhere means either pro (Pro 17:18) or propter, but before a prince, so that thou must yield to him (cf. Pro 14:19), before him whom thine eyes had seen, so that thou art not excused if thou takest up the place appropriate to him. Most interpreters are at a loss to explain this relative. Luther: "which thine eyes must see," and Schultens: ut videant oculi tui. Michaelis, syntactically admissible: quem videre gestiverunt oculi tui, viz., to come near to him, according to Bertheau, with the request that he receives some high office. Otherwise Fleischer: before the king by whom thou and thine are seen, so much the more felt is the humiliation when it comes upon one after he has pressed so far forward that he can be perceived by the king. But נדיב is not specially the king, but any distinguished personage whose place he who has pressed forward has taken up, and from which he must now withdraw when the right possessor of it comes and lays claim to his place. אשׁר is never used in poetry without emphasis. Elsewhere it is equivalent to נתנש, quippe quem, here equivalent to רפנש, quem quidem. Thine eyes have seen him in the company, and thou canst say to thyself, this place belongs to him, according to his rank, and not to thee - the humiliation which thou endurest is thus well deserved, because, with eyes to see, thou wert so blind. The lxx, Syr., Symmachus (who reads 8a, לרב, εις πλῆθος), and Jerome, refer the words "whom thine eyes had seen" to the proverb following; but אשר does not appropriately belong to the beginning of a proverb, and on the supposition that the word לרב is generally adopted, except by Symmachus, they are also heterogeneous to the following proverb:

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

There now follows a second proverb with מלך, as the one just explained was a second with מלכים: a warning against arrogance before kings and nobles.

6 Display not thyself before the king,

And approach not to the place of the great.

7 For better than one say to thee, "Come up hither,"

Than that they humble thee before a prince,

Whom thine eyes had seen.

The גּדלים are those, like Pro 18:16, who by virtue of their descent and their office occupy a lofty place of honour in the court and in the state. נדיב (vid., under Pro 8:16) is the noble in disposition and the nobleman by birth, a general designation which comprehends the king and the princes. The Hithpa. התהדּר is like the reflex forms Pro 12:9; Pro 13:7, for it signifies to conduct oneself as הדוּר or נהדּר (vid., Pro 20:29), to play the part of one highly distinguished. עמד has, 6b, its nearest signification: it denotes, not like נצּב, standing still, but approaching to, e.g., Jer 7:2. The reason given in Pro 25:7 harmonizes with the rule of wisdom, Luk 14:10.: better is the saying to thee, i.e., that one say to thee (Ewald, 304b), עלה הנּה (so the Olewejored is to be placed), προσανάβηθι ἀνώτερον (thus in Luke), than that one humble thee לפני נדיב, not: because of a prince (Hitzig), for לפני nowhere means either pro (Pro 17:18) or propter, but before a prince, so that thou must yield to him (cf. Pro 14:19), before him whom thine eyes had seen, so that thou art not excused if thou takest up the place appropriate to him. Most interpreters are at a loss to explain this relative. Luther: "which thine eyes must see," and Schultens: ut videant oculi tui. Michaelis, syntactically admissible: quem videre gestiverunt oculi tui, viz., to come near to him, according to Bertheau, with the request that he receives some high office. Otherwise Fleischer: before the king by whom thou and thine are seen, so much the more felt is the humiliation when it comes upon one after he has pressed so far forward that he can be perceived by the king. But נדיב is not specially the king, but any distinguished personage whose place he who has pressed forward has taken up, and from which he must now withdraw when the right possessor of it comes and lays claim to his place. אשׁר is never used in poetry without emphasis. Elsewhere it is equivalent to נתנש, quippe quem, here equivalent to רפנש, quem quidem. Thine eyes have seen him in the company, and thou canst say to thyself, this place belongs to him, according to his rank, and not to thee - the humiliation which thou endurest is thus well deserved, because, with eyes to see, thou wert so blind. The lxx, Syr., Symmachus (who reads 8a, לרב, εις πλῆθος), and Jerome, refer the words "whom thine eyes had seen" to the proverb following; but אשר does not appropriately belong to the beginning of a proverb, and on the supposition that the word לרב is generally adopted, except by Symmachus, they are also heterogeneous to the following proverb:

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Stand not - Do not affect frequent and familiar society with greater persons than thyself.

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⁸ When [3752] thou art bidden [2564] of [5259] any [5100] man to [1519] a wedding [1062], sit [2625] not [3361] down [2625] in [1519] the highest room [4411]; lest [3379] a more honourable man [1784] than thou [4675] be [5600] bidden [2564] of [5259] him [846];
⁹ And [2532] he that bade [2564] thee [4571] and [2532] him [846] come [2064] and say [2046] to thee [4671], Give [1325] this man [5129] place [5117]; and [2532] [5119] thou begin [756] with [3326] shame [152] to take [2722] the lowest [2078] room [5117].
¹⁰ But [235] when [3752] thou art bidden [2564], go [4198] and sit down [377] in [1519] the lowest [2078] room [5117]; that [2443] when [3752] he that bade [2564] thee [4571] cometh [2064], he may say [2036] unto thee [4671], Friend [5384], go up [4320] higher [511]: then [5119] shalt thou [4671] have [2071] worship [1391] in the presence [1799] of them that sit at meat [4873] with thee [4671].

¹⁹ The evil [07451] bow [07817] before [06440] the good [02896]; and the wicked [07563] at the gates [08179] of the righteous [06662].

¹⁸ A man [0120] void [02638] of understanding [03820] striketh [08628] hands [03709], and becometh [06148] surety [06161] in the presence [06440] of his friend [07453].

¹⁰ But [235] when [3752] thou art bidden [2564], go [4198] and sit down [377] in [1519] the lowest [2078] room [5117]; that [2443] when [3752] he that bade [2564] thee [4571] cometh [2064], he may say [2036] unto thee [4671], Friend [5384], go up [4320] higher [511]: then [5119] shalt thou [4671] have [2071] worship [1391] in the presence [1799] of them that sit at meat [4873] with thee [4671].

⁷ For better [02896] it is that it be said [0559] unto thee, Come up [05927] hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower [08213] in the presence [06440] of the prince [05081] whom thine eyes [05869] haveseen [07200].

² Stand [05975] in the gate [08179] of the LORD'S [03068] house [01004], and proclaim [07121] there this word [01697], and say [0559], Hear [08085] the word [01697] of the LORD [03068], all ye of Judah [03063], that enter in [0935] at these gates [08179] to worship [07812] the LORD [03068].

²⁹ The glory [08597] of young men [0970] is their strength [03581]: and the beauty [01926] of old men [02205] is the gray head [07872].

⁷ There is [03426] that maketh himself rich [06238], yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor [07326], yet [03605] hath great [07227] riches [01952].

⁹ He that is despised [07034], and hath a servant [05650], is better [02896] than he that honoureth [03513] himself, and lacketh [02638] bread [03899].

¹⁶ By me princes [08269] rule [08323], and nobles [05081], even all the judges [08199] of the earth [0776].

¹⁶ A man's [0120] gift [04976] maketh room [07337] for him, and bringeth [05148] him before [06440] great men [01419].