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Proverbs 14:34

in Proverbs 14

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Righteousness exalteth a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people.

KJV

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

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This verse in Proverbs 14

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
Righteousness exalteth a nation,.... Administered by the government, and exercised by subjects towards one another; doing justice between man and man: this exalts a nation, as it did the people of Israel, while practised among them; this sets a people above their neighbours, and high in the esteem of God and men; and is attended with privileges and blessings, which make a nation great and honourable. Some understand this of aims deeds, or beneficence to the poor; which, both in the Hebrew and Greek languages, is called righteousness; See Gill on Mat 6:

This site's exposition

Righteousness exalteth a nation

on Proverbs 14:34-35

Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people closes the chapter on its public turn, moving the fear of the Lord from one man's house to a whole nation's standing. Henry applies it directly to any government resting on righteousness rather than on power alone, a verse the histories of Israel and Judah illustrate both ways. The closing proverb narrows the same principle to one court: a king favours the wise servant and turns his wrath on the one who brings him shame.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

But sin is a reproach to any people - I am satisfied this is not the sense of the original, וחסד לאמים חטאת vechesed leummim chattath; which would be better rendered, And mercy is a sin-offering for the people. The Vulgate has, Miseros autem facit populos peccatum, “sin makes the people wretched.” Ελασσονουσι δε φυλας ἁμαρτιαι; “But sins lessen the tribes.” - Septuagint. So also the Syriac and Arabic. The plain meaning of the original seems to be, A national disposition to mercy appears in the sight of God as a continual sin-offering.
Reproach - The word so rendered has this sense in the Targum of Lev 20:17. Its more usual meaning is “mercy,” “piety;” hence, some have attached to the word rendered “sin” the sense of “sin-offering,” and so get the maxim “piety is an atonement for the people.”

The words behind it

6 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • צְדָקָ֥הrighteousness

    tzedakahH6666 →157 times

  • תְרֽוֹמֵֽם־it exalts

    teromem-H7311 →190 times

  • גּ֑וֹיa nation

    goyH1471 →

  • וְחֶ֖סֶדand [is] a shame

    vechesedH2617 →247 times

  • לְאֻמִּ֣יםto a people

    leumimH3816 →31 times

  • חַטָּֽאת׃sin

    chatatH2403 →295 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

12 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Psalms 107:34and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.15 worksDeuteronomy 28:1–68“Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.14 worksDeuteronomy 4:6–8Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”8 worksDeuteronomy 29:18–28Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,8 worksProverbs 11:11By the blessing of the upright a city is built up, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.8 worksEzekiel 16:1–63Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,7 works
The other 6 cross-references, with their words ▾
Hosea 13:1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died.7 worksJudges 2:6–14After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went out to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.7 worksEzekiel 22:1–23Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,5 worksJeremiah 2:2–25“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.5 worksEzekiel 28:15From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways—until wickedness was found in you.2 worksLamentations 5:16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!2 works

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 107:34

    and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 14:3

      The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

    • Genesis 13:10

      And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was…

    • Deuteronomy 29:23–28

      All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the…

    • Ezekiel 47:11

      But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

    • Genesis 13:13

      But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

About Proverbs

King Solomon in Old Age, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
King Solomon in Old Age, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Proverbs: the study guide →Read Proverbs 14 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

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