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צַדִּיק is the Hebrew adjective for righteous or just — but the English word 'righteous' has accumulated religious connotations that obscure the original force of the Hebrew. צַדִּיק is a relational term before it is a moral one.
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Full entry for צַדִּיק (H6662) · Open the biblical lexicon
צַדִּיק is the Hebrew adjective for righteous or just — but the English word 'righteous' has accumulated religious connotations that obscure the original force of the Hebrew. צַדִּיק is a relational term before it is a moral one.
The BSB source-word alignment has 206 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the righteous (44), of the righteous (39), righteous (12), but the righteous (9), the righteous man (8).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 6:9. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (66), Psalms (52), Ezekiel (16), Isaiah (14).
צַדִּיק is the Hebrew adjective for righteous or just — but the English word 'righteous' has accumulated religious connotations that obscure the original force of the Hebrew. צַדִּיק is a relational term before it is a moral one. The root צֶדֶק (righteousness) is a legal and relational concept: to be righteous is to be in right standing within a relationship, to have fulfilled the obligations that the relationship demands, to be the kind of person who can be counted on to act consistently with the covenant that defines the relationship.
A צַדִּיק judge is not merely a good person — he is one who delivers just judgments, who acts in accordance with the standard the legal relationship requires. A צַדִּיק man in a business transaction is one who deals fairly, whose word can be trusted, whose conduct matches the covenant. The local Hebrew artifact indexes the word at about 206 OT occurrences, spanning every domain: the righteous God who will not pervert justice (Gen 18:25), the righteous person whose life exhibits covenant-consistent character (Ps 1:6), the righteous suffering one whose vindication becomes the central OT question (Job, Ps 22, Isa 53), and the Righteous Branch who will execute justice and righteousness in the land (Jer 23:5).
The concentration of צַדִּיק in the Psalms and Proverbs reflects its wisdom-literature home: the righteous are those whose lives are aligned with God's order and whose character can be trusted in the full range of human relationships. The prophetic application of צַדִּיק is twofold: God as the standard of all righteousness ('shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?'
Gen 18:25), and the coming Righteous One who will establish that standard definitively. For Paul, δίκαιος (the LXX translation of צַדִּיק) becomes the word for what believers are declared to be in Christ — justified, reckoned righteous — which imports the full relational weight of צַדִּיק into the NT doctrine of justification.
צַדִּיק is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 206 OT occurrences across three primary registers: (1) God himself as the righteous standard of all judgment (Gen 18:25, Deut 32:4, Ps 145:17); (2) the human righteous person whose life exhibits covenant-consistent character (Ps 1, Prov 10-15, Job); (3) the suffering righteous one and the promised Righteous One who will come to establish justice (Isa 53:11, Jer 23:5). All three registers share the relational-covenantal logic: righteousness is about right standing within a defining relationship, not merely private moral achievement.
Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
Abraham's plea for Sodom uses צַדִּיק as the standard God himself is bound to uphold. The rhetorical question 'shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' establishes the theological axiom: God is not merely the enforcer of righteousness but the source and standard of it. The plea rests on the distinction between the righteous (who have done nothing deserving judgment) and the wicked (who have).
The moral logic requires that צַדִּיק persons not be judged as if they were their opposite. This passage becomes the foundational OT statement about God's righteousness as the standard all human justice must approximate.
For the Lord guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
The Psalter's opening poem uses צַדִּיק and רָשָׁע (wicked) as the two poles of human life. The phrase 'Yahweh knows the way of the righteous' is not merely surveillance knowledge — 'to know' in Hebrew often carries the weight of intimate care and covenant attention. The צַדִּיק's way is known by God in the sense that God watches over it, sustains it, and identifies with it.
The contrast with the perishing way of the wicked establishes that righteous and wicked are not equivalent moral options — they are two trajectories with two distinct ends. Psalm 1 functions as the gateway to the whole Psalter, establishing that the Psalms are the prayer book of the צַדִּיק community.
After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.
The Servant Song's climactic verse uses צַדִּיק as a title: 'my righteous servant.' The servant is righteous not merely as a moral description but as a covenantal-relational claim: he has fulfilled what the covenant required, and by doing so he becomes the instrument through which 'the many' receive righteous standing. The phrase 'justify many by the knowledge of himself' imports the legal dimension of צַדִּיק into its most concentrated form: the servant's righteousness is credited to those who know him.
The NT's doctrine of justification by faith (Rom 5:19, 'by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous') reads directly from this verse.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
The messianic title 'Righteous Branch' (צֶמַח צַדִּיק) applies the צַדִּיק vocabulary to the coming king. The Branch will 'execute justice and righteousness in the land' — the social and political dimensions of צַדִּיק are explicit: this is not merely private moral virtue but the establishment of a just order throughout the covenant land. The name given to him in 23:6 is 'the Lord our righteousness' (יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ), identifying the coming king with the righteous character of God himself.
The NT reads this text in connection with Jesus as the Davidic Messiah who embodies and establishes the righteousness the prophets announced.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. One who acts rightly within covenant relationship; moral excellence demonstrated through just conduct toward God and others
One who acts rightly within covenant relationship; moral excellence demonstrated through just conduct toward God and others
just Usage: just, lawful, righteous (man).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 8 selected witnesses from 206 lexical occurrence verses.
צַדִּיק is built from this root:
The righteous are those whose lives are oriented toward God's wisdom. Isaiah 24:14-16a
The righteous are those whose lives are grounded in wisdom and reverence for God. Isaiah 26:7-11
The righteous place their hope in God rather than in worldly gain. Isaiah 45:20-25
The righteous live under God's covenant care and provision. Proverbs 10:24
The righteous represent those who orient their lives around God's wisdom. Proverbs 10:25
The righteous person aligns with God's covenantal order. Proverbs 10:28
Righteous character produces a legacy that benefits others. Proverbs 10:3
The righteous contribute positively to the health of their communities. Proverbs 10:30
The righteous represent those who live under God's wisdom and protection.
God’s righteousness grounds both judgment and praise.
The righteous walk a path shaped by God’s justice.
Affirms God’s moral perfection in salvation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
צַדִּיק will not let the preacher reduce righteousness to private morality. The word is relational before it is moral: to be righteous is to be right in a relationship, to have fulfilled what the covenant demands of you, to be the person who can be counted on to act consistently with the obligations that define who you are. The preacher who holds צַדִּיק has a word that connects the character of God (the Judge of all the earth who does right), the life of the believer (the person whose way God knows and sustains), the suffering servant (the righteous one who bears iniquity for the many), and the coming king (the Righteous Branch who establishes justice in the land).
That range — from God's character to human life to Messianic promise — is the full arc of the word. The NT's doctrine of justification is the end of that arc: Paul's δικαιόω (to justify, declare righteous) and δίκαιος (righteous) inherit the full covenantal weight of צַדִּיק. When Paul says 'the righteousness of God has been manifested... the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe' (Rom 3:21-22), he is saying that what God always was (Gen 18:25), what the servant bore (Isa 53:11), and what the Branch will establish (Jer 23:5) has arrived in Christ.
The relational standing that צַדִּיק names — right with God, trustworthy in covenant — is now the gift given to those who are in him.
Isa.53.11
צַדִּיק is an adjective from the root צדק (righteousness, rightness, conformity with a norm). The root appears in the noun צֶדֶק (abstract righteousness, H6664), the verb צָדַק (to be righteous, to be in the right, H6663), and the abstract noun צְדָקָה (righteousness, justice, H6666). BDB emphasizes the relational dimension: the root describes conformity with a relationship norm, not merely personal virtue in isolation.
The LXX almost universally translates צַדִּיק with δίκαιος, creating the vocabulary link that makes Paul's use of δικαιόω (to justify) a deliberate echo of the OT צַדִּיק language. Habakkuk 2:4 ('the righteous shall live by his faith') is the hinge text: it uses both צַדִּיק and אֱמוּנָה (faithfulness/faith) in the same clause, the pairing that Session 154 explores.
The NT's use of δίκαιος (righteous) and δικαιόω (to justify) is the direct continuation of the OT צַדִּיק vocabulary through the LXX. Three OT texts are foundational for NT righteousness theology. First, Habakkuk 2:4 ('the righteous shall live by his faith/faithfulness') is cited in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38 as the OT charter for the NT doctrine of justification by faith.
Second, Isaiah 53:11 ('my righteous servant shall justify many') is the servant-song basis for the NT claim that Christ's righteousness is credited to believers. Third, Genesis 15:6 ('Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness') establishes that the relational righteousness of צַדִּיק is portrayed as received through trust in God's promise, not earned through works.
Paul's entire argument in Romans 3-5 and Galatians 3 is a sustained reading of these OT texts: the righteousness of God has been disclosed (the Judge does right, Gen 18:25), given through the righteous servant (Isa 53:11), and received by faith (Gen 15:6, Hab 2:4).
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