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Journey of a Passage

Proverbs 29:18

"Where there is no vision, the people perish"

"Where there is no vision (chazon), the people perish (yippara): but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Chazon is prophetic revelation; para means to run wild, cast off restraint. The library's Greek reads "There is no prophet for a lawless nation" (it appears twice in the digital file, at 29:18 and inside chapter 31); the Vulgate: "when prophecy fails, the people will be scattered."

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

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✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

      The proverb as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

    2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

      Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Cum prophetia defecerit, dissipabitur populus; qui vero custodit legem beatus est.

      Latin position: Proverbs 29:18. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398).

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      בְּאֵ֣ין חָ֭זוֹן יִפָּ֣רַֽע עָ֑ם וְשֹׁמֵ֖ר תּוֹרָ֣ה אַשְׁרֵֽהוּ׃

      Where there is no vision, a people runs wild; but one who keeps instruction (torah), happy is he

      Hebrew position: Proverbs 29:18.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

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

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Proverbs

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Il n’est point de prophète pour une nation perverse; mais bienheureux est celui qui garde la loi.

      Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 29:18. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). In chapters 24–31 the Greek follows a different order of collections, which the digital file squeezes into Hebrew slots; the matching line was found by content. No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.

    What changed, and why

    Chazon is the word for a prophet's vision (Isaiah 1:1; Obadiah 1; 1 Samuel 3:1: "there was no open vision"). Para means to let loose, unbind (Exodus 32:25, the people "naked" or "broken loose" at the golden calf). So the first line says that without God's revealed word, people lose restraint; the second blesses the one who keeps torah. Prophecy and law are both forms of God's guidance.

    The verse is widely used to mean that organizations or leaders need a plan or goal. That is an application by analogy. The ancient witnesses (Greek "prophet," Latin prophetia) agree that the vision is prophetic revelation.

    The library's Greek file stores the line twice (29:18 and the file's 31:23), a duplication caused by the reordered Greek chapters (D check).

    What the evidence shows

    • Strongly supportedChazon in 29:18 means prophetic revelation.
    • Independently documentedThe Greek and Latin read 'prophet' / 'prophecy.'
    • Conflicts with current evidenceProverbs 29:18 is about organizational goal-setting. A popular application.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Proverbs 29: Where There Is No Vision, the People Perish →Proverbs 29 closes the Hezekiah collection with sayings on government ("When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice," v. 2; "The king by judgment establisheth the land," v. 4; "The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever," v. 14), on correction of children and servants (vv. 15, 17, 19, 21), on anger and pride (vv. 8, 11, 22–23), and two famous lines: "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (v. 18) and "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe" (v. 25). It ends with mutual abhorrence of the just and the unjust (v. 27).