PROVERBS 29:18

Here is another popular Bible verse that has been quoted endlessly:

“Without a vision, the people perish.”

If you go on Google Images and search for this saying, you will find something very interesting. It has been authoritatively attributed on the internet to Ronald Reagan, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rosa Parks, and even Oprah Winfrey. Of course they were all quoting from Proverbs 29:18. That is why I had to include this priceless "quote" from Abraham Lincoln: “Don't believe everything you read on the internet just because there's a picture of a famous person with a quote next to it.”

Well, getting back to Proverbs, this is a favorite verse used in church planning meetings to show that we need to start out with a vision statement first. That might be a good idea, but that isn't really what the passage means. All those who use this verse are relying again on an faulty King James translation. 

Here is how modern translations render the original Hebrew:

    Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint. RSV, NRSV

    Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint. NIV

    Where there is no one in authority, the people break loose. NEB

    Where there is ignorance of God, the people run wild. Living Bible

    A nation without God's guidance is a nation without order. TEV

The Jerusalem Bible retains the word "vision" but explains in a footnote that it refers to the function of the prophets.