A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.
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.
- BSB Like clouds and wind without rain is the man who boasts of gifts never given.
- 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.
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 men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man?
- Luke 14:11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Jude 1:16These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaks proud things), showing respect of persons to gain advantage.
- 2 Pet 2:15–19forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;
- 1 Kgs 22:11Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘With these you will push the Syrians, until they are consumed.’”
- Jude 1:12–13These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- Luke 18:10–14“Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.
- 2 Cor 11:31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever more, knows that I don’t lie.
- 2 Cor 11:13–18For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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