Proverbs 14:34

Righteousness exalts ¹  a nation, but sin is a disgrace ²  to any people.

De 4:6-8; De 28:1-14; De 28:15-68; De 29:18-28; Jud 2:6-14; Ps 107:34; Jer 2:2-25; Eze 16:1-63; Eze 22:1-23:49; Ho 13:1

¹ sn The verb תְּרוֹמֵם (tÿromem, translated “exalts”) is a Polel imperfect; it means “to lift up; to raise up; to elevate.” Here the upright dealings of the leaders and the people will lift up the people. The people’s condition in that nation will be raised.

² tn The term is the homonymic root II חֶסֶד (khesed, “shame; reproach”; BDB 340 s.v.), as reflected by the LXX translation. Rabbinic exegesis generally took it as I חֶסֶד (“loyal love; kindness”) as if it said, “even the kindness of some nations is a sin because they do it only for a show” (so Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 1040-1105).