Bible Strands
Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the Law.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A wisdom teacher (within Solomon's collection) addresses a general audience, likely young men under household instruction, bracketed by verses on disciplining a son (v.17) and correcting a servant (v.19).
The words — חָזוֹן (cha.zon, "vision") names the revelatory input that holds a community in check; יִפָּרַע (yi.Pa.ra', "it is let loose") describes the result of its absence in the idiom of an untethered animal.
The thread — Hosea 4:6 ties the people's destruction to rejected knowledge; Luke 11:28 and James 1:25 both pair hearing God's word with continued obedience as the mark of the blessed.
Why it lands — The verse makes moral restraint a dependent variable, not self-generated by the people but sustained by their continued engagement with divine instruction; the blessing is attached to the one who keeps it, not to the abstract principle.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Cross-references
- James 1:25 But 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.
- Luke 11:28 But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
- Hosea 4:6 My 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 your children.
- John 13:17 If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
- Psalms 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.
- Proverbs 19:16 He who keeps a commandment preserves his soul, but he who is careless in his ways will die.
- Psalms 119:2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart.
- 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.
- Amos 8:11 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
- Matthew 9:36 When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.