Proverbs 29:18
in Proverbs 29Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the Law.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
KJV
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
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This verse in Proverbs 29
Commentary
10 notes on this verseWhere there is no vision, the people perish,.... That is, "no prophecy", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; and which is often the sense of the word, as the vision of Isaiah is the prophecy of Isaiah; and, in the New Testament, prophesying is often put for preaching; and here vision, or prophecy, signifies the public ministering of the word and ordinances, and want of persons to administer them; no expounder, as the Septuagint version; or interpreter, as the Arabic.
This site's exposition
Discipline your son
on Proverbs 29:17-18
"Discipline your son, and he will give you rest" promises rest as the reward for discipline. In verse 18 the vision is prophetic revelation, and the King James "perish" renders a word for casting off restraint. The verse pairs revelation with law, while "blessed is he who keeps the Law."
This site's exposition
Where there is no vision
Adam Clarke and John Gill both read vision as prophecy, following the Vulgate. Gill extends it to the public preaching of the word, and Clarke warns that a land which neglects revelation is near ruin. The one who keeps the Law is blessed whatever others do.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
When prophecy fails, the people will be scattered, etc. Because indeed, when priestly instruction ceases, the discipline of the divine law will immediately dissolve, for the people ought to reach the rewards of blessedness.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Where there is no vision - My old MS. Bible, following the Vulgate, translates: Whan prophecye schal failen, the peple schal ben to scatered. Where Divine revelation, and the faithful preaching of the sacred testimonies, are neither reverenced nor attended, the ruin of that land is at no great distance. But he that keepeth the law, happy is he - Go how it may with others, he shall be safe. So our Lord: “Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.”
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
no vision--instruction in God's truth, which was by prophets, through visions (1Sa 3:1). people perish--(Compare Margin), are deprived of moral restraints. keepeth the law--has, and observes, instruction (Pr 14:11, 34;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Vision - The word commonly used of the revelation of God’s will made to prophets. Compare Isa 1:1; Nah 1:1. When prophetic vision fails, obedience to the Law is the best or only substitute for it, both being forms through which divine wisdom is revealed. Very striking in the midst of ethical precepts is this recognition of the need of a yet higher teaching, without which morality passes into worldly prudence or degenerates into casuistry. The “wise man,” the son of David, has seen in the prophets and in their work the condition of true national blessedness. The darkest time in the history of Israel had been when there “was no open vision 1Sa 3:1; at such a time the people “perish,” are let loose, “are left to run wild.”
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
Chuck Pierce52 Days of Rebuilding Your Spirit, Receiving a New Anointing, and Unlocking Your Future (article) (2005)
proposed
I am seeing a hunger for prophetic revelation so that vision of what God is doing this hour becomes more and more clear.
2 more voices on this verse
Modern Voices2 voices
A commentator
GK ChestertonHeretics, Ch. 20: Concluding Remarks on the Importance of Orthodoxy (1905) (1905)
proposed
Many, for example, avowedly followed Cecil Rhodes because he had a vision. They might as well have followed him because he had a nose; a man without some kind of dream of perfection is quite as much of a monstrosity as a noseless man. People …
A commentator
GK ChestertonAlarms and Discursions, The Philosophy of Sight-seeing (1910) (1910)
proposed
But there is indeed a much deeper objection to this theory of the two incompatible excellences of antiquity and popularity. For the truth is that it has been almost entirely the antiquities that have normally interested the populace; and it has been almost entirely the …
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Without vision the people become unrestrained When Israel causes prophecy to withdraw from them by mocking the prophets, they will become unrestrained and will degenerate.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּאֵ֣ין | beein | when there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| חָ֭זוֹן | chazon | [is] vision | H2377 → | |
| יִפָּ֣רַֽע | yipara' | it is let loose | H6544 → | 16 times |
| עָ֑ם | ʾam | a people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וְשֹׁמֵ֖ר | veshomer | and [one who] keeps | H8104 → | 468 times |
| תּוֹרָ֣ה | torah | [the] law | H8451 → | 219 times |
| אַשְׁרֵֽהוּ׃ | ʾashrehu | how blessed [is] he | H835 → | 45 times |
בְּאֵ֣יןwhen there not
beeinH369 →789 times
חָ֭זוֹן[is] vision
chazonH2377 →
יִפָּ֣רַֽעit is let loose
yipara'H6544 →16 times
עָ֑םa people
ʾamH5971 →1873 times
וְשֹׁמֵ֖רand [one who] keeps
veshomerH8104 →468 times
תּוֹרָ֣ה[the] law
torahH8451 →219 times
אַשְׁרֵֽהוּ׃how blessed [is] he
ʾashrehuH835 →45 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 11:28But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
it leads to
- John 13:17
If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 6:47–48
I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them:
- Luke 8:21
But He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and carry it out.”
- Psalms 112:1
Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in His commandments.
- James 1:21–25
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.
- John 13:17
Through
James 1:25But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.
it leads to
- Luke 11:28
But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 11:28
Through
Hosea 4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget…
it leads to
- Isaiah 5:13
Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.
- Proverbs 19:2
Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.
- Isaiah 5:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Chuck Pierce, 52 Days of Rebuilding Your Spirit, Receiving a New Anointing, and Unlocking Your Future (article); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; GK Chesterton, Heretics, Ch. 20: Concluding Remarks on the Importance of Orthodoxy (1905); GK Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions, The Philosophy of Sight-seeing (1910); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.