Like clouds and wind without rain is the man who boasts of gifts never given.
Parallel translations
- WEB As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.
- KJV Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
- NKJV Whoever falsely boasts of giving Is like clouds and wind without rain.
- NASB Like clouds and wind without rain Is a person who boasts of his gifts falsely.
- NLT A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
One who boasts of gifts he never gives is like clouds that promise rain but bring none. Empty promises disappoint.
Overview
This rebukes the deceptive boaster whose pledges raise hopes only to leave others unfulfilled, like a drought after the look of rain. Wisdom values reliability over impressive talk. It implicitly commends the faithfulness of God, whose every promise is yes and amen in Christ (2 Cor 1:20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 20:6Many a man proclaims his loving devotion, but who can find a trustworthy man?
- Luke 14:11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Jude 1:16These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
- 2 Pet 2:15–19They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
- 1 Kgs 22:11Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’”
- Jude 1:12–13These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.
- Luke 18:10–14“Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
- 2 Cor 11:31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying.
- 2 Cor 11:13–18For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 25:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.