What does Proverbs 28:5 mean?

God is the ultimate basis for goodness and righteousness. To follow God (Proverbs 1:7; 8:33–36) is to pursue the highest possible standard for such things. When something other than God becomes a priority, justice suffers. The same is true in reverse: when evil becomes comfortable, it blinds us to God's truth. Cultures that persist in evil become indifferent to it (Ezekiel 20:18–19), but what they do is still wrong in the Lord's eyes (Exodus 20:5). It's possible that a wicked person realizes their own sin and refuses to repent. It's also possible for a person to be so controlled by sin that they don't recognize it anymore (Romans 1:28; 2 Corinthians 4:4).

The book of Judges describes a period when the nation of Israel cycled between obedience and disobedience. They frequently rejected God's law and replaced it with lawlessness. Judges 2:11–13 reports that the people did what was evil in the Lord's sight. They followed false gods and abandoned the Lord. Judges 21:25 says, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." As a result of Israel's rebellion, God sent foreign nations against her until she repented and turned back to Him. However, the cycle of moral decline, opposition, punishment, and repentance occurred repeatedly. Sin clouds the mind to justice. Nevertheless, in every generation a remnant of believers understands justice and seeks to obey the Lord (Romans 11:5).