A verse that reports how bribery feels from the inside rather than endorsing it.
Quick answer
To the man holding it, a bribe looks like a jewel that opens every door. The verse describes his view, and the chapter answers it fifteen verses later.
Read both lines
Proverbs does this periodically: it states a thing as its practitioner experiences it, without immediate comment. The phrase "in the eyes of its possessor" is doing the work, marking this as a perspective rather than a verdict, and the second line reports his success in his own terms. Anyone reading the chapter straight through gets the correction at verse 23, where taking a bribe under cover is named as perverting justice. Read alone, this verse sounds like advice; read in the chapter, it is a portrait of how corruption looks to the corrupt.
Related: Proverbs 17:23 · Proverbs 15:27 · Exodus 23:8
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.