where there is no VISION my people PERISH

Proverbs 29:18
17 Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul. 18 Where there no vision the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law. 19 A slave will not be instructed by words alone; for though he understands, there will be no response.…
Proverbs 29:18 King James Version (KJV)
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

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 license 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 to a sinful nation, but he that keepeth the Law is most blessed."

Cross References

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

Exodus 32:25
Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control-- for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies--

1 Samuel 3:1
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

Psalm 1:1
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

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

Psalm 19:11
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.

Psalm 74:9
We do not see our signs; There is no longer any prophet, Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

Psalm 106:3
How blessed are those who keep justice, Who practice righteousness at all times!

Psalm 119:2
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.

Proverbs 8:32
"Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, For blessed are they who keep my ways.