Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
Parallel translations
- WEB Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
- KJV Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
- NKJV Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.
- NASB Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.
- NLT Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. National well-being is tied to moral character.
Overview
This sweeping proverb declares that righteousness lifts up a nation while sin brings it shame and decline. It applies wisdom's principles beyond the individual to the life of whole peoples. The verse reminds nations of their accountability to God, whose moral order undergirds all human society and finds its center in Christ's righteous reign.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 107:34and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.
- Deut 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.
- Deut 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,
- Deut 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.”
- Hos 13:1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died.
- Judg 2:6–14After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went out to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.
- Ezek 16:1–63Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezek 22:1–23Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Jer 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 14:34 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.