Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
Parallel Translations
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Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
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Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
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Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Proverbs 14:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 107:34 and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
- Deuteronomy 28:1-68 It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out. Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways. Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by Yahweh’s name, and they will be afraid of you. Yahweh will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow. Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you today, to observe and to do, and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come on you and overtake you. You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed. You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out. Yahweh will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me. Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land where you go in to possess it. Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish. Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed. Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. Your dead bodies will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away. Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed. Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart. You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you. You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit. Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand. A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always, so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad. Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone. You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away. You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it. You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off. You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. Locusts will consume all of your trees and the fruit of your ground. The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower. He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail. All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever. Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young. They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. They will besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which Yahweh your God has given you. You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you. The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter, toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates. If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH your God, then Yahweh will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring fearful, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration. He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring them on you until you are destroyed. You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. It will happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess. Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul. Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see. Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.
- Deuteronomy 29:18-28 lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison; and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,” to destroy the moist with the dry. Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky. Yahweh will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law. The generation to come—your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land—will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick, that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath. Even all the nations will say, “Why has Yahweh done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?” Then men will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know and that he had not given to them. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book. Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”
- Deuteronomy 4:6-8 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?
- Hosea 13:1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but when he became guilty in Baal, he died.
- Judges 2:6-14 Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel each went to his inheritance to possess the land. The people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had worked for Israel. Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old. They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. After all that generation were gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who didn’t know Yahweh, nor the work which he had done for Israel. The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals. They abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; and they provoked Yahweh to anger. They abandoned Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
- Ezekiel 16:1-63 Again Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born. “ ‘ “When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent ornament. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare. “ ‘ “Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and you became mine. “ ‘ “Then washed I you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered work, and put sealskin sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck. I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord Yahweh. “ ‘ “But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his. You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shall not happen, neither shall it be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them. You took your embroidered garments, covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so it was,” says the Lord Yahweh. “ ‘ “Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter, that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them? In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood. “ ‘ “It has happened after all your wickedness. Woe, woe to you!” says the Lord Yahweh, “that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street. You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution. You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger. See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren’t satisfied. You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this. “ ‘ “How weak is your heart,” says the Lord Yahweh, “since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute; in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay. “ ‘ “A wife who commits adultery! Who takes strangers instead of her husband! People give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution. You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.” ’ “Therefore, prostitute, hear Yahweh’s word: ‘The Lord Yahweh says, “Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them; therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated. I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. I will also give you into their hand, and they will throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places. They will strip you of your clothes, and take your beautiful jewels. They will leave you naked and bare. They will also bring up a company against you, and they will stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. They will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you will also give no hire any more. So I will cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy will depart from you. I will be quiet, and will not be angry any more. “ ‘ “Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head,” says the Lord Yahweh: “and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations. “ ‘ “Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you, saying, ‘As is the mother, so is her daughter.’ You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom with her daughters. Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done their abominations; but soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. “ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. They were arrogant, and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it. Samaria hasn’t committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done. You also bear your own shame yourself, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. “ ‘ “I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives among them; that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them. Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate; and you and your daughters will return to your former estate. For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you all around. You have borne your lewdness and your abominations,” says Yahweh. “ ‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
- Jeremiah 2:2-25 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,” ’ says Yahweh.” Hear Yahweh’s word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless? They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’ I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit. “Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says Yahweh, “and I will contend with your children’s children. For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see. Send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit. “Be astonished, you heavens, at this and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate,” says Yahweh. “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water. Is Israel a slave? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a captive? The young lions have roared at him and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. “Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. “For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh. “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her. “Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.’
- Ezekiel 22:1-23 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. You shall say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. Those who are near, and those who are far from you, will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult. “ ‘ “Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh. “ ‘ “Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been within you. Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries. I will consume your filthiness out of you. You will be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ” Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you. Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in the middle of it. As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so you will be melted in the middle of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.’ ” Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, and the mercy of the people is a…
Or, and the mercy of the people is a sacrifice for sin.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin [is]…
Pro 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin [is] a reproach to any people.
Ver. 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation.] True religion and the power of godliness is the beauty and bulwark of a state; {Deu 28:13} so are good laws, enacted and executed. This made "the faithful city" {Isa 1:21} to be the princess of provinces; {Lam 1:1} that land a "land of desire, a heritage of glory"; {Jer 3:19} even "the glory of all nations." {Eze 20:6} Josephus calls tile commonwealth Yεοκρατειαν; and Prosper’s conceit is, that Iudaei Judah, were so called because they received ius Dei. law of God, It was said of old, Angli quasi Angeli, and Anglia regnum Dei. England was called the kingdom of God, and Albion quasi Olbion, a happy country, the paradise of pleasure and garden of God. {a} Now the Lord is with us while we are with him, &c.; but if we cast off the yoke of his obedience, as Capernaum, though lifted up to heaven, we shall be brought down to hell. Sins are the snuffs that dim our candlestick, and threaten the removal of it; the leaven that defiles our passovers, and urges God to pass away and depart from us; the reproach that will render us a proverb and a byword, {Deu 28:37} an astonishment and a hissing, {Jer 25:9} like Sodom and her sisters, a reproach and a taunt; {Eze 5:15} which to prevent, Currat poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia. {b} Mittamus preces et lachrymas cordis legatos. {c} Let us break off our sins, and cry mightily to God; for otherwise a dismal change, a sad removal of our candlestick, may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven, as once to those seven churches of Asia. {Rev 2:1-29; Rev 3:1-22}
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{a} Polyd. Virg.
{b} Isidor
{c} Cyprian.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Exalteth a nation; maketh it honourable in the eyes…
Exalteth a nation; maketh it honourable in the eyes of God, and of all other nations, as it did the ancient Romans.
A reproach to any people; brings contempt and ruin upon them by provoking both God and men against them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Note, 1. Justice, reigning in a nation, puts an…
Note, 1. Justice, reigning in a nation, puts an honour upon it. A righteous administration of the government, impartial equity between man and man, public countenance given to religion, the general practice and profession of virtue, the protecting and preserving of virtuous men, charity and compassion to strangers (alms are sometimes called righteousness), these exalt a nation; they uphold the throne, elevate the people's minds, and qualify a nation for the favour of God, which will make them high, as a holy nation, Deu 26:19. 2. Vice, reigning in a nation, puts disgrace upon it: Sin is a reproach to any city or kingdom, and renders them despicable among their neighbours. The people of Israel were often instances of both parts of this observation; they were great when they were good, but when they forsook God all about them insulted them and trampled on them. It is therefore the interest and duty of princes to use their power for the suppression of vice and support of virtue.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Righteousness exalteth a nation,.... Administered by the government, and…
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 6:1. It may be put for the whole of true religion, which is an honour to a nation, where it obtains; and is what makes the holy nation, and peculiar people, so truly illustrious; and particularly the righteousness of Christ makes such who are interested in it really great and noble, and promotes and exalts them to heaven and happiness;
but sin is a reproach to any people; where vice reigns, iniquity abounds, profaneness, impiety, and immorality of all sorts prevail, a people become mean and despicable; they fall into poverty and contempt; are neither able to defend themselves, nor help their neighbours, and so are despised by them. The word rendered "reproach" most commonly signifies "mercy" or goodness; and some render it, "and the mercy of a people is a sin offering" (p); or as one: or it is so "to the nations"; it is as good as a sacrifice for sin, of which the word is sometimes used, or better, more acceptable to God, "who will have mercy, and not sacrifice", Mat 9:13; even beneficence and kindness to the poor, the same with righteousness, as before. I think it may be as well rendered, "the piety" or religion "of the nations is sin" (q); it being idolatry, as Aben Ezra observes: such is the religion of the antichristian nations, who worship idols of gold and silver; and though they may afflict themselves, as Gersom remarks of the idolatrous nations, with fasting and penance, with whippings and scourgings; yet it is nothing else but sin, will worship, and superstition.
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(p) "beneficentia expiatio est populi", Grotius; "sacrificium expiatorium", Tigurine version; "velut sacrificium pro peccato", Vatablus, Gejerus; "gratuita beneificentia nationibus est aliquid sacrificium peccati expiatorium", Gussetius, p. 74. (q) "Pietas nationum est peccatium", Munster, Mercerus; "studium nationum peccatum", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 34. But sin is a reproach to any…
Verse 34. 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. Not that it atones for the sin of the people; but, as a sin-offering is pleasing in the sight of the God of mercy, so is a merciful disposition in a nation. This view of the verse is consistent with the purest doctrines of free grace. And what is the true sense of the words, we should take at all hazards and consequences: we shall never trench upon a sound creed by a literal interpretation of God's words. No nation has more of this spirit than the British nation. It is true, we have too many sanguinary laws; but the spirit of the people is widely different.
If any one will contend for the common version, he has my consent; and I readily agree in the saying, Sin is the reproach of any people. It is the curse and scandal of man. Though I think what I have given is the true meaning of the text.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 14:34. Righteousness exalteth a nation — A righteous…
Pro 14:34. Righteousness exalteth a nation — A righteous administration of the government of it, impartial equity between man and man, public countenance given to religion, the general practice and profession of virtue, the protecting and preserving of virtuous men, mercy, humanity, and kindness to strangers and enemies: these things put honour upon a nation, and exalt it in the eyes of God, and of all other nations. But sin is a reproach to any people — Brings contempt and ruin upon them, by provoking both God and men against them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Reproach - The word so rendered has this sense…
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.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain If it be not beneath statesmen to take lessons…
If it be not beneath statesmen to take lessons from the Bible, let them deeply ponder this sound political maxim, which commends itself to every instinct of the unsophisticated mind. Indeed it would be a strange anomaly in the Divine administration, if the connection between godliness and prosperity, ungodliness and misery, established in individual cases, should not obtain in the multiplication of individuals into nations. The Scripture records however — confirmed by the result of impartial and extended observation — clearly prove this to be the rule of national, no less than of personal, dispensation. The annals of the chosen people, as they were a righteous or sinful nation, are marked by corresponding exaltation or reproach.†1 Not the wisdom of policy, extent of empire, splendid conquests, flourishing trade, abundant resources — but righteousness — exalteth a nation. It is both ’the prop to make it subsist firm in itself, and a crown to render it glorious in the eyes of others.’†2 Greece in her proud science; Rome in the zenith of her glory — both were sunk in the lowest depths of moral degradation.†3 Their true greatness existed only in the visions of poesy, or the dream of philosophy. Contrast the influence of righteousness, bringing out of the most debased barbarism a community, impregnated with all the high principles, that form a nation’s well-being.†4 Thus to Christianize, is to regenerate, the community; to elevate it to a more dignified position; to exalt the nation (Deu 26:16-19 ), and that, not with a sudden flash of shadowy splendour, but with solid glory, fraught with every practical blessing. But sin is a reproach to any people. No nation is so low, as not to sink low under it; while to the mightiest people, it is a blot in their escutcheon, that no worldly glory can efface. What an enemy is an ungodly man to his country! Loudly as he may talk of his patriotism, and even though God should make him an instrument of advancing her temporal interest; yet he contributes, so far as in him lies, to her deepest reproach.
Beloved Britain! nation highest in the profession of righteousness! For thee we "rejoice with trembling." The combined effort of a little band, to promote the honour of the Sabbath;†5 to resist the encroachments of Popery; to enlarge the usefulness and efficiency of the Church; to train the young in the sound principles of the Gospel;†6 to circulate the word and preaching of the gospel to the ends of the earth — this is thy national exaltation. But the evil example among the Heathen,†7 the accredited influence of Romish heresy:†8 the flood of infidelity, lawlessness, and ungodliness; the want of a full recognition of God in thy public acts — this is thy reproach. Let the little remnant in the midst of thee remember their high responsibility. (Mat 5:13 .) Let them take care, that their personal and relative profession add to the righteousness, not to the sin, of the nation. Let them plead for their country’s true prosperity with humiliation, faith, and constancy.†9 Let them labour for her exaltation with more entire union of heart.
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Footnotes:
†1 Exaltation, Deu 28:13 . Jos 10:42 . 1Ki 4:20-24 . 2Ch 17:2-5, 2Ch 17:11-12, 2Ch 32:22-23 . Reproach, Deu 28:43-44 . Jdg 2:7-15 . 2Ki 10:31-32 ; 2Ki 18:11-12 . 2Ch 15:2-6 ; 2Ch 36:11-17 . Jer 7:29 . See the name of reproach given by God himself. Isa 1:10 ; Isa 57:3 . Hos 1:6-9 . Zep 2:1 . Compare Wis 5:23 .
†2 Bishop Sanderson’s Sermon on Exo 23:1-3 . Even an heathen sage spoke of moral righteousness — greek word here — the pillar and support of the city. — Plato de Legibus, book vi. ’Those princes and commonwealths, who would keep their governments entire and uncorrupt, are, above all things, to have a care of religion and its ceremonies, and preserve them in due veneration. For in the whole world there is not a greater sign of imminent ruin, than when God and his worship are despised.’ Such was the testimony of the infidel and profligate politician — Machiavel. — Discourses on Livy.
†3 Rom 1:22-32, was a picture of the heathen world in the best ages of refinement.
†4 The Missionary Records of New Zealand and the South Sea furnish ample proof of this statement.
†5 See how heavily the honour of the Sabbath weighs in the scale of national dispensation. Neh 13:15-18 . Isa 58:13-14 . Jer 17:24-27 . Eze 20:15-24 .
†6 Mr. Addison, in one of his papers, after drawing a lively picture of the procession of children on a day of thanksgiving for the triumphs of the Queen’s arms, gives his decided testimony, that these unprecedented victories were God’s national blessing for the religious instruction of the poor. This was the testimony of a Secretary of State. — Guardian, No. 105.
†7 Eze 36:20-23. Rom 2:23 . ’What a God must he be’ — said a poor Indian, of the Spaniards — ’who had such bloody men for his servants and children.’
†8 What must be the national guilt connected with the annual dedication of 100,000l. of our revenue (including the ungodly grant to Maynooth) to the support of Popery! Who that receives implicitly the Scripture testimony, Rev 18:4, must not tremble at the consequence of our nation madly going into Babylon, instead of coming out of her? Expediency may plead plausibly. But Burke’s golden maxim is the soundest policy — ’What is morally wrong can never be politically right.’
†9 What a pattern does Dan 9:1-17 furnish for this exercise of Christian patriotism!
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Miserable. This sentence ought to be engraven in all…
Miserable. This sentence ought to be engraven in all public places. Hebrew, "and mercy the sinful people," whom God spares on account of their alms-deeds, (Daniel iv. 24.) or "sin is the shame of peoples." (Calmet) --- Montanus renders chesed mercy, and Pagnin "ignominy." The former is scarcely intelligible, et misericordia populorum peccatum, unless sin be here taken for a sin-offering, (Haydock) as it is by Vatable, Grotius, &c. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Righteousness--just principles and actions.
Righteousness--just principles and actions.
exalteth--raises to honor.
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is a reproach--brings on them the ill-will of others (compare Pro 13:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation: (both to honour and…
34. Righteousness exalteth a nation: (both to honour and prosperity:) but sin is a reproach to any people — Literally, to nations. The latter clause has been the subject of great controversy, with great names on both sides. Some adhere to and defend the translation of the Authorized Version. “The plain meaning,” says Clarke, “seems to be: A national disposition to mercy appears in the sight of God as a continual sin offering, not that it atones for sin, but as a sin offering is pleasing to the God of mercy, so is a merciful disposition in a nation.” The primary idea of the root is that of eager and earnest desire, ardour, zeal; and this, when carried out into the tropical senses, diverges in two directions, either to good desires and good dispositions toward any one. or to a zealous hatred against one, which is expressed in reproach.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (34) Righteousness.—See above, on Pro_10:2.
(34) Righteousness.—See above, on Pro_10:2.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Righteousness exalteth a nation. "Righteousness" (Pro_10:2) is the rendering…
Righteousness exalteth a nation. "Righteousness" (Pro_10:2) is the rendering to all their due, whether to God or man. We are taught the salutary lesson that a nation"s real greatness consists not in its conquests, magnificence, military or artistic skill, but in its observance of the requirements of justice and religion. Hesiod, Erg. 223 Oi de dikav xeinoisi kai endhmoisi didousin Iyeiav kai mh ti parekbainousi dikaiou Toisi teyhle poliv laoi d anyeusin en auth. ~
But sin is a reproach to any people; to peoples. The words for "nation" (goi) and "peoples" (leummim) are usually applied to foreign nations rather than to the Hebrews; and Wordsworth sees here a statement a fortiori: if righteousness exalts and sin degrades heathen nations, how much more must this be the case with God"s own people, who have clearer revelations and heavier responsibilities! dsj (chesed) occurs in the sense of "reproach," in Lev_20:17, and with a different punctuation in Pro_25:10 of this book. Its more usual meaning is "mercy" or "piety;" hence some have explained the clause: "The piety of the peoples, i.e. the worship of the heathen, is sin; and others, taking "sin" as put metonymically for "sin offering," render: "Piety is an atonement for the peoples." But there is no doubt that the Authorized Version is correct. (comp. Pro_11:11) Thus Symmachus renders it by oneidov , "shame;" and in the same sense the Chaldee Paraphrase. The Vulgate and Septuagint, owing to the common confusion of the letters daleth and resh, have read cheser instead of chesed, and render thus: Vulgate, "Sin makes peoples miserable;" Septuagint, "Sins diminish tribes." The sin of nations contrasted with the righteousness in the first clause must be injustice, impiety, and violence. See a grand passage in the fifth book of St. Augustine"s "De Civitate Dei," ch. 12.
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National righteousness.
I RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REQUIRED IN A NATION. Morality has not yet been sufficiently applied to politics. It is forgotten that the ten commandments relate to communities as well as to individuals, because they are based on the eternal and all-embracing principles of righteousness. Men have yet to learn that that which is wrong in the individual is wrong in the society. Nations make war on one another for reasons which would never justify individual men in fighting a duel. Yet if it is wrong for a man to steal a field, it must be wrong for a nation to steal a province; and if an individual man may not cut his neighbour"s throat out of revenge without being punished as a criminal, there is nothing to justify a whole community in shooting down thousands of people for no better motive. If selfishness even is sinful in one man, selfishness cannot be virtuous in thirty millions of people. The reign of righteousness must govern public and national movements if the will of God is to be respected.
II RIGHTEOUSNESS IS A BLESSING TO A NATION. To the cynical politician such "counsels of perfection" as command conscience in government, and especially in international action, appear to be simply quixotic. He holds the application of it to be wholly impracticable; he imagines that it must involve nothing but national ruin. Hence, it is maintained, there is no right but might, because there is no international tribunal and no general authority over the nations. The two points must be kept distinct the internal life of the nation and its foreign policy.
1. Internal life. There are national sins in the sense of sins committed by a great part of a nation sins that shamefully characterize it. Thus drunkenness is to a large extent an English national sin. The oppression of one class by another, a general prevalence of business dishonesty, a frivolous pleasure-seeking fashion, all affect the nation"s life when they are largely extended among any people. These things eat out the very heart of a nation. For a nation"s sin the punishment is on earth, because the nation goes on while individuals die, and so there is time for the deadly fruit of sin to ripen. So was it with Israel, Babylon, Rome, etc.
2. Foreign policy. Wars of aggression may aggrandize the victorious people for a time. But they rouse the hatred of their victims. A high-handed. policy thus multiplies a nation"s enemies. It is dangerous to be an outlaw among the nations. Above all, there is a just Ruler, who will put down the tyrant and punish the guilty nation.
III RIGHTEOUSNESS MAY BE OBTAINED IN A NATION BY FOLLOWING THE RULE OF CHRIST. It is difficult to make an unchristian nation behave in a Christian manner. The sermon on the mount was addressed to disciples of Christ. (Mat_5:1) National righteousness will follow national submission to the will of Christ. The reason why the nations snarl at one another like wild beasts is just that the inhabitants of the nations do not yet follow Christ. He came to set up the kingdom of heaven on earth, and when this kingdom is established in the hearts of the citizens, the nations, which are but the aggregates of citizens, will learn to follow righteousness.
The strength and the reproach of nations.
I SIN THE NATION"S SHAME.
1. A sinful nation in the sight of God. This is a nation of which the people have gone astray from him; do not approach him in worship; do not consult his will as revealed in his Word; have no ear to lend to those that speak in his Name; lose all sense of sacred duty in the pursuit of gain and pleasure.
2. The flagrant guilt to which such godlessness leads down.
(1) It is probable, in a high degree, that impiety will lead to iniquity, that the absence of all religious restraint will end in abandonment to evil in all its forms.
(2) History assures us that it does so. The denial, or the defiance, or the entire disregard of God and of his will, conducts to and ends in vice, in crime, in violence, in despotism, in the dissolution of old and honourable bonds, in the prevalence of despair and suicide, in utter demoralization.
3. This is the reproach to a people. A country may lose its population, or its wealth, or its pre-eminent influence, without being the object of reproach; but to fall into general impiety, and to live in the practice of wrong doing, this is a disgrace; it brings a nation down in the estimate of all the wise; its name is clothed with shame; its fame has become infamy.
II RIGHTEOUSNESS A NATION"S STRENGTH. National righteousness does not consist in any public professions of piety, nor in the existence of great religious organizations, nor in the presence of a multitude of ecclesiastical edifices and officers; nations have had all these before now, and they have been destitute of real righteousness. That consists in the possession of a reverent spirit and an estimable character, and the practice of purity, justice, and kindness on the part of the people themselves. (see Isa 58 Mic_6:6-8) In this is a nation"s strength and exaltation, for it will surely issue in:
1. Physical well being. Virtue is the secret of health and strength, of the multiplication and continuance of life and power.
2. Material prosperity; for righteousness is the foundation of educated intelligence, of intellectual energy and vigour, of commercial and agricultural enterprise, of maritime intrepidity and success.
3. Moral and spiritual advancement.
4. Estimation and influence among surrounding nations.
5. The abiding favour of God. (Psa_81:13-16) We may learn from the text
(1) that no measure of brilliancy in statesmanship will compensate for debauching the minds of the people, for introducing ideas or sanctioning habits which are morally unsound and corrupting;
(2) that the humblest citizen whose life tends to establish righteousness amongst his neighbours is a true patriot, however narrow his sphere may be. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Righteousness exalteth a nation.
Pro_14:34
Righteousness exalteth a nation.
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The advantages of religion to societies
There cannot be a greater prejudice raised against anything than to have it represented as inconvenient and hurtful to our temporal interests. On this account religion has suffered in the opinion of many as being opposed to our present welfare, and likely to rob men of the greatest advantages and conveniences of life. He who would commend religion must reconcile it with the happiness of mankind. The text declares religion and virtue to be advantageous to the public prosperity of a nation. Satisfy mens reason on this point.
I. Give an account of this truth.
1. From the justice of the Divine Providence. Public bodies, or communities of men, can only be rewarded and punished in this world. St. Austin says that the mighty success and long prosperity of the Romans was reward given them by God for their eminent justice and temperance, and other virtues. But the general and crying sins of a nation cannot hope to escape public judgments. Public judgments are the banks and shores upon which God breaks the insolency of sinners, and stays their proud waves. The experience of all ages hath made this good.
2. From the natural tendency of the thing. Religion and virtue, in their own nature, conduce to the public interest. Religion is the greatest obligation upon conscience to all civil offices and moral duties. Chastity, temperance, and industry do, in their own nature, tend to health and plenty. Truth and fidelity do create mutual love and goodwill. And so almost every vice has some temporal inconvenience annexed to it, and naturally following it. Religion and virtue naturally tend to good order and more easy government of human society, because they have a good influence both upon magistrates and subjects. Religion makes the people more obedient to government and more peaceable one towards another.
II. Vindicate this truth.
1. From the assertion that government may subsist well enough without the belief of a God, and a state of rewards and punishments after this life.
2. From the assertion that virtue and vice are arbitrary things. Inference from this discourse.
(1) If this discourse be true, then those who are in places of power and authority are peculiarly concerned to maintain the honour of religion.
(2) It concerns every one to live in the practice of it. (J. Tillotson, D.D.)
Politics and morals
Whatever is morally wrong cannot be politically right. (E. Burke.)
Religion promotes civil welfare
As there is nothing in religion to counteract the design of a wise system of civil polity, so there is nothing in a wise system of civil government to counteract the design of the Christian religion. The exaltation of the nation is the end of civil polity. Righteousness is the end of religion, or rather is religion itself. (J. Saurin.)
The harmony of religion and civil polity
I. State the question clearly. By religion, as exalting a nation, is not meant either the religion of a cruel man, a superstitious person, or an enthusiast. Religion and righteousness must be taken in the true sense of the terms. It is not affirmed that the true religion is so necessary in all its doctrines, and in all the extent of its precepts, that there are no instances of the flourishing of societies which have not been wholly regulated by it. We only affirm that the most sure method that a nation can take to support and exalt itself, is to follow the laws of righteousness and the spirit of religion. It is not affirmed that in every particular case religion is more successful in procuring some temporal advantages than violation of it. We only affirm generally, that the more a society practises virtue, the more prosperity win it enjoy. By exaltation is not meant that sort of elevation to which worldly heroes aspire. If we understand by exalting a nation, whatever governs with gentleness, negotiates with success, attacks with courage, defends with resolution, and constitutes the happiness of a people, then a nation is only exalted by righteousness. It is not affirmed that the prosperity of such a nation would be so perfect as to exclude all untoward circumstances. An argument against us is taken from the abuses which religion has caused in society. This is removed by taking away false ideas of religion. Another objection is taken from the case of some idolatrous nations, that have arrived at a great height of worldly glory. A third from some particular instance in which vice has proved of more advantage to a state than virtue. A fourth from extravagant notions of glory. A fifth from the evils which the most virtuous societies suffer.
II. Show the ground of the maxim of the wise man. Open six sources of reflections.
1. The idea of society in general.
2. The constitution of each government in particular.
3. The nature of arts and sciences.
4. The conduct of Providence.
5. The promises of God Himself.
6. The history of all ages. (J. Saurin.)
Rectitude uplifting
Righteousness exalteth a nation.
I. In material wealth. Truth, honesty, integrity in a people are the best guarantees of commercial advancement. The more credit a nation has, the more business it can do; and the more business, if rightly conducted, the more will be the accumulation of wealth. It exalts--
II. In social enjoyment. According as the principles of veracity, uprightness, and honour reign in society, will be the freeness, the heartiness, and the enjoyment of social intercourse.
III. In moral power. The true majesty of a kingdom lies in its moral virtue. The state whose heart beats loyally to the eternal principles of rectitude gains an influence upon earth mightier than the mightiest armies or battalions can impart. (Homilist.)
National exaltation
I. righteousness exalteth a nation. These words at once reveal to us the great secret in all national improvement, national happiness, national peace and prosperity. Let us not suppose that legislative enactments, criminal laws, courts of justice, and houses of correction, ever can succeed in uprooting vice and implanting virtue, in securing peace and protecting property, in removing sin and exalting the nation. These truly should not be left undone; but never for one moment imagine that in themselves they can remedy the evil. These never can change the heart of man. Think not that a nations true, substantial, and lasting greatness consists in power, wealth, noble edifices, princely palaces, extensive cities, warlike achievements, naval victories, commercial enterprise, colonial possessions. Be not dazzled with the glitter and glare of this mere external appearance of greatness.
II. but sin is a reproach to any people. This is a striking contrast, a painful transition. From gazing with rapture upon the exaltation of righteousness, we are now to move on to behold with sorrow the degradation of sin. Read the histories of the ancients; and what was the blot which marred and defaced even the most enlightened nations of old? Sin, idolatry, ungodliness, spiritual ignorance: they were without God in the world. What was it which caused the Almighty to send famines, pestilences, captivities, and finally destruction, upon His own peculiar people, even the children of Israel? Sin. They rebelled against the words of the Lord, and lightly esteemed the counsel of the Most High. But, alas! we do not require to search the records of the ancients, traverse the wide ocean, and wander to distant shores, to test the truth of this Scriptural declaration. We have ocular demonstrations of it amongst our own people, in our villages and towns. For, what is the blemish which is so visible upon all ranks and classes? Sin. What is it which blackens, darkens, and deadens the noblest mansions, alike with the meanest habitations, spreading misery, ignominy, and wretchedness amongst and around us. (G. J. Morehead, M.A.)
Of the importance of righteousness to civil liberty and national prosperity
To many the doctrine of this text appears paradoxical; by some it is regarded as absurd. The idea is that industry and economy conduct states to wealth and independence: while fleets and armies render that wealth and independence secure and permanent. But good morals are the props and bulwarks of society. No man liveth unto himself. Strong and intimate ties link us to those around us. Each one has a relative function to fulfil, and a particular portion to contribute to the general welfare. Kindness, protection, assistance, countenance, must be given and received. In some points or other, we stand exposed to the good or ill-will of every member of our community or nation. Besides the intimate connection between good morals and the glory and happiness of society, it may be maintained that righteousness, and righteousness only, secures to civil liberty and national prosperity their establishment and permanence. It cannot be that the love of liberty, a sentiment in the highest degree exalted and refined, can pervade the bosom which is debased by immoralities. Vices impair the understanding which distinguishes the solid objects of the public weal. The same train of immoralities that perverts the sentiments also debilitates the judgment, and enfeebles its range. (W. Thorburn.)
The glory of a nation
Sin extends its influence over all the relations of life. To the general corruption of mankind, the miseries of individuals, of families, and of nations are owing. The chief good, the true interest of each of these, is to be found only in the victory of truth over error, of holiness over sin.
I. An explanation of the words righteousness, and exaltation. Righteousness signifies, according to its primitive idea, full weight or measure. It is such a conformity to some law which men are bound to obey as answers all its demands. Exaltation means advancement or promotion to a state of dignity and honour, usefulness and happiness. The exaltation of a nation consists in its intellectual, moral, political, social, and physical excellence.
II. Illustrate the manner in which revealed religion exalteth a nation.
1. Righteousness exalteth the intellectual state of a nation. Righteousness encourages the cultivation of the mind, and enlightens the reason.
2. Righteousness exalteth the moral state of a nation. It unfolds the foundation of genuine morality, and affords the ability of conforming to its precepts. Without the righteousness of faith there is no obedience to the Divine law, such as it requires. Sinners, as such, are immoral in a strict sense, because unrighteous, i.e., disobedient to Gods law. Righteousness, by drawing forth into proper exercise the faculties, and forming correct habits, exalts the morals of individuals and nations.
3. Righteousness exalteth the political state of a nation. It adds its sanctions to the authority of government. It teaches and enforces subordination. It establishes parental authority and family discipline, without which civil communities cannot flourish.
4. Righteousness exalts the social state of a nation. By this is meant their manners. It influences a people to combine gravity with cheerfulness.
5. Righteousness exalteth a nation by promoting its physical state. By this is meant its natural resources, such as its population, wealth, and means of defence.
III. Examine the proofs which history affords of this truth. So far as the principles of righteousness are known among a nation, so far that nation is exalted. Every system of religion will influence its followers according to the interest which it excites in their feelings. Illustrate especially from the history of the Jewish nation. Learn
(1) The importance of the Church of Jesus Christ, in this world. The Church of God is the sheet-anchor of the world.
(2) The importance of a religious magistracy. (J. B. Romeyn, B.D.)
The blessings of religion to a nation
Righteousness signifies justice and honest dealing. It may be enlarged to include mercy and charity. A more comprehensive meaning is universal obedience to the laws of God.
I. True religion and piety exalteth a nation. Religion is the mother of justice, moderation, mercy, and all other virtues.
1. This it does in itself; being in its own nature a truly great, noble, and honourable thing. A nations power without piety is but an ability to do mischief.
2. By virtue of its own natural fruits and consequences, it promotes industry. It disposes men to mind the public good and honour of the nation.
II. Religion procures the blessing of Divine providence upon the country. True religion binds men together, and so makes them mighty and formidable, by removing the causes of division, and by making them feel the happy effects of peace and quietness. True religion increases a people into a multitude by securing chaste marriages, and by inviting other people to resort to it. (Bishop Patrick Symon.)
The benefits of righteousness
I. The beneficial power of righteousness. Righteousness being regarded as the produce of Christianity. If the precepts of the Bible were acted out by the members of the community, there would be banished all that tends to produce discord to its security. The influence of religion is of supreme value on the duties, and also on the trials of life.
II. An objection drawn from the discord to which Christianity has given rise. It must be admitted that Christianity has, all along, been the occasion of much disquietude and unhappiness. But the fault lies, not with Christianity, but with man, who perverts Gods blessings. Admitting the fact, we must strike a balance between the produced wretchedness and the produced happiness. (H. Melvill.)
Our national sins and penalties
When we speak of a national sin we cannot mean anything but that either the great bulk of the nation, or those who have a right to act on behalf of the nation, have joined in the same wrong-doing. It is often necessary to consider sins as the result of mens joint action, whether that unity of action be conscious or unconscious. A new character attaches to a mans wrongdoing, if he have joined others in doing it. It is sometimes thought that what is unjustifiable in the individual, is justified when it is united action. But God has surely attached evil issues to evil deeds, for the mass as certainly as for the individual. Illustrate by the national sin which now leavens our whole trade and commerce. Can it be denied that the want of uprightness which meets us at every turn has risen to the proportion of a national sin? Healthy business unquestionably gains enormously by mutual trust, and if all trust were abolished, commerce would move in fetters. And yet trust is becoming more difficult every day. The punishment appointed for such a sin is that the lesson of guile will be learnt, and then practised on yourself in turn. Another prevalent sin is, a kind of arrogance, which sometimes goes so far as to end in a total forgetfulness that others have rights as well as we. All the world over, the Englishman is known as the sternest and most resolute upholder of justice. But this, strange to say, has one almost insurmountable element--the Englishman is ever demanding, tacitly or openly, an acknowledgment of his own superiority. He does not readily allow that others have rights as well as he, rights to be respected as much as his. Rights may be confessed in the abstract, but a practical assertion of the rights of others is repugnant to an Englishman. He inclines to exalt, not righteousness, but strength. And yet what is more glorious than a name of absolute uprightness? What nobler record for any nation than that of never having put anything whatever, not even her own self, above the call of what is right. It is not the first time that the choice for strength rather than righteousness has been made. Illustrate from the later Republic of Rome, and from the course Spain took with her colonial empire. (Archbishop Temple.)
Christian polities
I. Some wrong estimates of national greatness.
1. Some say a character for shrewdness.
2. The estimate of a diplomatist would be erroneous.
3. So would that of the social economist.
4. And the warrior.
5. The mere place-hunter.
6. And even the historian.
II. The proper estimate of national greatness.
1. Righteousness supposes individual integrity. The character of a people is determined by its units. Individual integrity means an adherence to truth at all hazards.
2. Righteousness implies a respect for human nature. A recognition of the value of life and the soul.
3. Righteousness farther involves the disposition that concedes to our fellow-men the liberties we enjoy. A policy of monopoly is a policy of unrighteousness.
4. Righteousness requires that political justice be rendered to other nations.
5. It necessitates compliance with the law of progress. And--
6. That we regulate our political action by our duty to God. All political convictions should contain the elements of godliness--piety and patriotism should be joined in holy wedlock. (W. J. Acomb.)
Ministers of religion to aid national righteousness
Christian men sustain a twofold relation--a relation to the gospel and a relation to the state. Their duty with respect to crime is like the duty of a good gardener with respect to weeds. He will try to crowd out the weeds by planting an abundance of good seed; but when the weeds succeed in getting root and growing he will go about with his hoe and dig them out. Now, there are some well-meaning people who believe that Christian ministers, to say nothing of Christian laymen, ought to use the first method in combating crime, but not the second. They hold that ministers ought to preach and preach, whether they have any listeners to profit by their preaching or not, but that they ought never to exhort voters as to their duty in electing righteous lawmakers, or prod lazy or corrupt legislators, or rebuke inefficient police officials. They would have us believe that ministers of the gospel ought to merely plant the seeds of righteousness, and if the weeds of sin come to poison the good seed utterly, well, never mind, it is not the business of the ministers to try to root them out. There are good people who hold that view; but it is untenable. These good people mean well, but they are misguided. (G. F. Greene.)
Christian institutions useful to the nation
Christian institutions, such as the family and the Sabbath, tend to prolong life and increase the population. Many heathen tribes, lacking these, have become all but extinct; and, other things being equal, civilised nations multiply in proportion as Christ is practically acknowledged as their Head and Lord, and as Christian institutions are embraced. In 1851 the population of France was about double that of England and Wales; in the ten years from 1851 to 1861 the increase of population in England and Wales was more than double that in France; so that the proportionate increase per cent is fully four to one in favour of the country where the Sabbath is recognised, and the domestic virtues are upheld. (Wesleyan S. S. Magazine.)
Virtue essential to national prosperity
Trade is a fluctuating thing; it passed from Tyre to Alexandria, from Alexandria to Venice, from Venice to Antwerp, from Antwerp to Amsterdam and London, the English rivalling the Dutch, as the French are now rivalling both. All nations almost are wisely applying themselves to trade, and it behoves those who are in possession of it, to take the greatest care that they do not lose it. It is a plant of tender growth, it requires sun and soil and fine seasons to make it thrive and flourish. It will not grow like the palm-tree, which, with the more weight and pressure, rises the more. Liberty is a friend to that, as that is a friend to liberty. But the greatest enemy to both, is licentiousness which tramples upon all law and lawful authority, encourages riots and tumults, promotes drunkenness and debauchery, sticks at nothing to support its extravagance, practises every art of illicit gain, ruins credit, ruins trade, and will in the end ruin liberty itself. Neither kingdoms nor commonwealths, neither public companies nor private persons, can long carry on a beneficial and flourishing trade without virtue, and what virtue teacheth--sobriety, industry, frugality, modesty, honesty, punctuality, humanity, charity, the love of our country, and the fear of God. (Bishop Newton.)
Sin is a reproach to any people.--
The evil effects of sin
The sentence may be read, Sin is the poverty, depression, or sinking of any people.
1. It is the nature of sin to lessen and diminish a people. The most populous nations have been reduced to a handful by the prevalence of vice--Israel, Greeks, Romans.
2. It is the nature of sin to sink and depress the spirits of a people. A people confirmed in the habits of vice, have no heart to labour, to think, to form, or to execute any virtuous designs. Their genius withers, their exertions languish, their hopes, their honours, their virtues perish.
3. It is the nature of sin to destroy the wealth of a nation, and subject them to all the evils and reproaches of poverty. Some species of fraud may, for a time, advance a person or people in wealth and grandeur. Yet vice, according to its natural course, will eventually involve them in poverty and shame.
4. It is the nature of sin to deprive a people of the blessings of freedom, and involve them in the misery and meanness of slavery. Vice has the same effect upon the body politic that sickness has upon the natural body. Vice destroyed the liberties of Greece. Vice subverted the freedom of Rome.
5. It is the nature of vice to provoke the displeasure of God, and draw down His judgments, which complete the ruin of a people. (D. Emmons, D.D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Pro_14:34. The Hebrew word for reproach means also “mercy.”…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_14:34. The Hebrew word for reproach means also “mercy.” Hence Gejer and Miller translate “Mercy for nations is the sin-offering,” the word sin being often used to express the sin-offering.
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_14:34
NATIONAL SALVATION
I. Some standard of right and wrong is necessary to national existence. There are men who have affirmed that there is no such thing as virtue and vice—that they are only inventions of those who desire to rule their fellow-creatures, and that the world could do without them. But experience teaches the contrary. Every nation, if it is to have an existence, even if it rejects a Divine revelation, or is ignorant of it, must have some standard by which to judge human actions. Without the recognition of such a standard, even if it is only based upon the light of reason, not only would national prosperity be impossible, but national existence. Rome and Greece had such standards as well as Israel, although the first-mentioned nations had no revelation from heaven except that of the natural conscience, and if all the existing codes were abolished to-morrow men would find it necessary to form others in order to preserve their national, if not their individual existence.
II. The prosperity and influence of a nation is in proportion to its national righteousness. This is not the case of the individual man. His present condition and circumstances, the measure of power that he possesses, or the amount of the influence he exerts, is no index of the amount of righteousness which he possesses. He may be a noble of the land, or he may have no social standing; he may fare sumptuously every day, or he may subsist on the crumbs that fall from the rich man’s table, and neither from the one lot or the other can any conclusion be drawn as to what his moral standing is. There is another world in which the righteous man will be exalted, and the unrighteous man will reap the reward of unrighteousness; but national righteousness and unrighteousness receive their reward in this world.
1. Righteous dealing in a nation promotes its commercial prosperity. If the merchants of a nation are known to be honest in their transactions and truthful in their words, they will gain and hold a high place in the markets of the world.
2. It secures it an influence among the governing powers of the world. In proportion as its intercourse with other nations is marked, not by a lust for conquest or a desire to rule, no matter by what means—but by a recognition of the rights of all—in that proportion will it acquire a power far more real and far more lasting than that gained by its ability to outdo other nations in the number of its soldiers or the size of its navy.
III. National reproach for sin will be in proportion to its possession of a high or low moral standard. “Sin is a reproach to any people;” but it is the greatest reproach to those who possess the greatest light. The sin of Israel was a greater reproach to them than the sin of the Philistines was to them, because the one possessed the light of a Divine revelation, and the other did not. So in the present day, the nations who sin against the light of the revealed word of God are far greater sinners than those upon whom that light has never shone. The principle to which the Divine Son gave utterance concerning the Jewish nation is the one by which He judges nations in the present day. “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin (Joh_15:24).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
As there is nothing in religion to counteract the design of a wise system of civil polity, so there is nothing in a wise system of civil government to counteract the design of the Christian religion. The exaltation of the nation is the end of civil polity. Righteousness is the end of religion, or rather is religion itself.—Saurin.
It is the nature of sin
(1) to lesson and diminish a people;
(2) to sink and depress the spirit of a people;
(3) to destroy the wealth of a people;
(4) to deprive them of the blessings of freedom;
(5) to provoke the displeasure of God and to draw down His judgments.—Emmons, in “Lange’s Commentary.”
Righteousness is both “the prop to make it subsist firm in itself and a crown to make it glorious in the eyes of others” (Bp. Sanderson). Greece in her proud science, Rome in the zenith of her glory, both were sunk in the lowest depths of moral degradation (Rom_1:23-32 was a picture of the heathen world in the best ages of refinement). Their greatness consisted only in the visions of poesy or the dream of philosophy. Contrast the influence of righteousness, bringing out of the most debased barbarism a community impregnated with all the high principles that form a nation’s well-being. Thus to christianise is to regenerate, to elevate the community, to “exalt the nation,” and that not with a sudden flash of shadowy splendour, but with a solid glory, fraught with every practical blessing. “Those princes and commonwealths who would keep their governments entire and uncorrupt, are, above all things, to have a care of religion and its ceremonies, and preserve them in due veneration. For in the whole world there is not a greater sign of imminent ruin than when God and His worship are despised.” Such was the testimony of the profligate politician Machiavel.… What an enemy an ungodly man is to his country! Loudly though he may talk of his patriotism, and even though God should make him an instrument to advance her temporal interest; yet he contributes, so far as in him lies, to her deepest reproach.—Bridges.
Religion and virtue do naturally tend to the good order and more easy government of human society, because they have a good influence both upon magistrates and subjects.
1. Upon magistrates. Religion teaches them to rule over men in the fear of God, because though they be gods on earth, yet they are subjects of heaven, and accountable to him who is higher than the highest in this world. Religion in a magistrate strengthens his authority because it procures veneration and gains a reputation to it. And in all affairs of the world so much reputation is so much power.
2. Upon subjects. First, it makes them obedient to government, and conformable to laws; and that not only out of fear of power, which is but a weak and loose principle of obedience, but out of conscience, which is a firm, and constant and lasting principle, and will hold a man fast when all other obligations will break. Secondly, it tends to make men peaceable with one another. For it endeavours to plant all those qualities and dispositions in men which tend to peace and unity, and to fill men with a spirit of universal love and good-will. It endeavours likewise to secure every man’s interest, by commanding the observation of that great rule of equity, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.”—Tillotson.
We find the great general principle of Divine Providence, in regard to nations, thus laid down by Jehovah Himself to the prophet Jeremiah—“At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them” (Jer_18:7-10). This was a principle, not applicable to Israel exclusively—for we find it expressly applied to the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the inhabitants of Sodom and of Nineveh. And the Old Testament bringing before us specimens of the Divine administration, the Spirit of God letting us so far into the secrets of its principles and laws, we have every reason to believe that in the government of God over the world, the same principle is still in operation, though we may not be able to trace it—that, had we only an inspired record of what takes place now, we should see it clearly in all cases; and even without such a record there are cases in which it would be equal impiety and blindness not to discern and own it.—Wardlaw.
“Righteousness” means saving righteousness, and “Sin-offering” is literally sin. (See Critical Notes). “Righteousness” lifts to the very skies. “The mercy of nations,” as the words literally are, is not wealth, or peace, or a good king, or broad lands of plenty, but an interest in Christ, “the sin-offering,” and a home amongst the happy.—Miller.
“Peoples” is plural, whereas “a nation” is singular, implying the paucity of the nations observing righteousness. The Hebrew word for reproach meaning also mercy, Gejer translates, “Mercy is an expiratory sacrifice for sin.” Not that mercy puts away sin before God, but before men, who are by mercy reconciled to those who had before been unmerciful to them.—Fausset.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation, the exercise of…
v. 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation, the exercise of true moral uprightness in every department of a nation’s activity will set such a nation up on high, tend to give it material prosperity, for God rewards civil righteousness in such a manner; but sin is a reproach to any people; if it is openly countenanced in a nation, the consequence is shame, disgrace, injury, decrease, destruction.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 is a disgrace
is a disgrace
"brings shame upon to any people" or "should cause any people to be ashamed"
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who acts prudently
"who acts wisely" or "who makes sure bad things do not happen"
the one who
"the servant who"
translationWords
exalt
nation
sin
people group
favor
king
servant
anger
shame
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:34 A great nation is not defined by wealth,…
14:34 A great nation is not defined by wealth, power, or military victories (14:28) but by godliness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.