Proverbs 29:18
New International Version
Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.

New Living Translation
When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.

English Standard Version
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Berean Standard Bible
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the Law.

King James Bible
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

New King James Version
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.

New American Standard Bible
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is one who keeps the Law.

NASB 1995
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

NASB 1977
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

Legacy Standard Bible
Where there is no vision, the people are out of control, But how blessed is he who keeps the law.

Amplified Bible
Where there is no vision [no revelation of God and His word], the people are unrestrained; But happy and blessed is he who keeps the law [of God].

Christian Standard Bible
Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Without revelation people run wild, but one who listens to instruction will be happy.

American Standard Version
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
In the multitude of the evil ones a people is breached, and he that keeps the law is blessed.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
There shall be no interpreter to a sinful nation: but he that observes the law is blessed.

Contemporary English Version
Without guidance from God law and order disappear, but God blesses everyone who obeys his Law.

Douay-Rheims Bible
When prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad: but he that keepeth the law is blessed.

English Revised Version
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Without prophetic vision people run wild, but blessed are those who follow [God's] teachings.

Good News Translation
A nation without God's guidance is a nation without order. Happy are those who keep God's law!

International Standard Version
Without prophetic vision, people abandon restraint, but those who obey the Law are happy.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Literal Standard Version
A people is made naked without a vision, | And whoever is keeping the Law, O his blessedness!

Majority Standard Bible
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the Law.

New American Bible
Without a vision the people lose restraint; but happy is the one who follows instruction.

NET Bible
When there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but the one who keeps the law, blessed is he!

New Revised Standard Version
Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint, but happy are those who keep the law.

New Heart English Bible
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but he who keeps the law is blessed.

Webster's Bible Translation
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

World English Bible
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but one who keeps the law is blessed.

Young's Literal Translation
Without a Vision is a people made naked, And whoso is keeping the law, O his happiness!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Stiff-Necked will Be Destroyed
17Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will bring delight to your soul. 18Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the Law. 19A servant cannot be corrected by words alone; though he understands, he will not respond.…

Cross References
John 13:17
If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Exodus 32:25
Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them run wild and become a laughingstock to their enemies.

1 Samuel 3:1
And the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. Now in those days the word of the LORD was rare and visions were scarce.

Psalm 1:1
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

Psalm 1:2
But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 19:11
By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward.

Psalm 74:9
There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.


Treasury of Scripture

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.

there

1 Samuel 3:1
And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Amos 8:11,12
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: …

perish or is made naked

2 Chronicles 28:19
For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD.

but

Proverbs 19:16
He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die.

Psalm 19:11
Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

Psalm 119:2
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

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Proverbs 29
1. observations of public government
15. and of private
22. Of anger, pride, thievery, cowardice and corruption














(18) Where there is no vision.--No revelation of God's will (Isaiah 1:1), when God teaches none by His Spirit that they may instruct others. So it was in the evil days of Eli (1Samuel 3:1), and Asa (2Chronicles 15:3).

The people perish.--Or, run wild. (Comp. Hosea 4:6.)

But he that keepeth the law.--The teaching of those whom God has instructed (Comp. Isaiah 1:10.) . . .

Verse 18. - Where there is no vision, the people perish; rather, cast off restraint, become ungovernable, cannot be reined in (Exodus 32:22, 25). "Vision" (chazon), prophecy in its widest sense, denotes the revelation of God's will made through agents, which directed the course of events, and was intended to be coordinate with the supreme secular authority. The prophets were the instructors of the people in Divine things, standing witnesses of the truth and power of religion, teaching a higher than mere human morality. The fatal effect of the absence of such revelation of God's will is stated to be confusion, disorder, and rebellion; the people, uncontrolled, fall into grievous excesses, which nothing but high principles can restrain. We note the licence of Eli's time, when there was no open vision (1 Samuel 3.); in Asa's days, when Israel had long been without a teaching priest (2 Chronicles 15:3); and when the impious Ahaz "made Judah naked" (2 Chronicles 28:19); or when the people were destroyed by reason of lack of knowledge of Divine things (Hosea 4:6). Thus the importance of prophecy in regulating the life and religion of the people is fully acknowledged by the writer, in whose time, doubtless, the prophetical office was in full exercise: but this seems to be the only passage in the book where such teaching is directly mentioned; the instructors and preceptors elsewhere introduced as disseminating the principles of the chochmah being parents, or tutors, or professors, not inspired prophets. But he that keepeth the Law, happy is he! "The Law" (torah) is not merely the written Mosaic Law, but the announcement of God's will by the mouth of his representatives; and the thought is, not the blessedness of those who in a time of anarchy and irreligion keep to the authorized enactments of the Sinaitic legislation, but a contrast between the lawlessness and ruin of a people uninfluenced by religious guidance, and the happy state of those who obey alike the voice of God, whether conveyed in written statutes or by the teaching of living prophets. (For "happy is he," comp. Proverbs 14:21; Proverbs 16:20.) Septuagint, "There shall be no interpreter (ἐξηγητὴς) to a sinful nation, but he that keepeth the Law is most blessed."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Where [there is] no
בְּאֵ֣ין (bə·’ên)
Preposition-b | Adverb
Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle

vision,
חָ֭זוֹן (ḥā·zō·wn)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2377: A sight, a dream, revelation, oracle

the people
עָ֑ם (‘ām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

cast off restraint;
יִפָּ֣רַֽע (yip·pā·ra‘)
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6544: To loosen, to expose, dismiss, absolve, begin

but blessed [is]
אַשְׁרֵֽהוּ׃ (’aš·rê·hū)
Interjection | third person masculine singular
Strong's 835: Happiness, interjection, how happy!

he who keeps
וְשֹׁמֵ֖ר (wə·šō·mêr)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 8104: To hedge about, guard, to protect, attend to

the law.
תּוֹרָ֣ה (tō·w·rāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8451: Direction, instruction, law


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation the people (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 29:17
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