Proverbs 18:17

New American Bible - revised edition

Those who plead the case first seem to be in the right; then the opponent comes and cross-examines them.

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When the master heard his wife’s story in which she reported, “Thus and so your servant did to me,” he became enraged.

Whoever answers before listening, theirs is folly and shame.

Gifts clear the way for people, winning access to the great.

The lot puts an end to disputes, and decides a controversy between the mighty.