To be (causatively, make ) right (in a moral or forensic sense)
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צָדַק (tsadaq) is the Hebrew verb for being righteous or being in the right. Its noun family includes צֶדֶק (tsedeq, righteous standard), צְדָקָה (tsedaqah, righteousness/justice), and צַדִּיק (tsaddiq, righteous one/the righteous person).
Reader summary
Full entry for צָדַק (H6663) · Open the biblical lexicon
צָדַק (tsadaq) is the Hebrew verb for being righteous or being in the right. Its noun family includes צֶדֶק (tsedeq, righteous standard), צְדָקָה (tsedaqah, righteousness/justice), and צַדִּיק (tsaddiq, righteous one/the righteous person).
The BSB source-word alignment has 41 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include and justifying (2), appear righteous (2), you are righteous (2), acquit (1), Acquitting (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 38:26. Its strongest book concentrations include Job (17), Isaiah (6), Psalms (4), Ezekiel (3).
צָדַק (tsadaq) is the Hebrew verb for being righteous or being in the right. Its noun family includes צֶדֶק (tsedeq, righteous standard), צְדָקָה (tsedaqah, righteousness/justice), and צַדִּיק (tsaddiq, righteous one/the righteous person). The verb itself means to be in conformity with the right standard — legal, moral, and relational.
In the Qal stem, tsadaq means to be righteous or to be in the right. In the Hiphil stem (causative), it means to declare righteous, to vindicate, to acquit — the forensic sense that Paul draws on for justification (dikaioō in Greek). When a judge tsadaq's a defendant, it is a declarative act: the judge pronounces the person to be in the right, whatever their actual moral condition.
The OT knows that no human being can truly stand in the right before God (Job 9:2, 'how can a mortal be righteous before God?'). The profound problem tsadaq raises is: how can a just God declare anyone righteous when none are? The answer the prophets begin to point toward — and Paul articulates fully — is that God provides the righteousness he demands. Isa 45:25, 'In YHWH all the offspring of Israel shall be tsadaq'd and shall glory.' The imputation of righteousness is not a NT invention; it is the OT's own resolution to the tsadaq problem.
The local Hebrew artifact indexes tsadaq at about 41 OT occurrences, but its noun family (tsaddiq, tsedaqah, tsedeq) appears hundreds more times. The verb is the action-form of one of the most important word families in biblical theology. The forensic Hiphil (to declare righteous, to justify) is the specific form Paul draws on, but the full word family shows that righteousness in the OT is simultaneously moral character, legal standing, and relational faithfulness — a richness that Paul's dikaioō partially inherits.
Understanding tsadaq as the OT background enriches the congregation's grasp of what justification means: not merely a legal fiction but the actual placing of a person in the right relationship with the righteous God.
Tsadaq moves from the relational-legal (who is in the right in this dispute?) through the soteriological problem (how can any mortal be tsadaq before God?) to the prophetic solution (the Servant who bears iniquity makes the many tsadaq, Isa 53:11) to the NT's Greek equivalent dikaioō (to justify, declare righteous). Paul's justification theology is the NT articulation of the OT tsadaq trajectory: God does for sinners what they cannot do for themselves, providing the righteous standing he demands by crediting the Servant's righteousness to those who trust.
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. Judicial vindication and moral rightness merge: to be declared innocent or to establish justice through forensic acquittal.
Judicial vindication and moral rightness merge: to be declared innocent or to establish justice through forensic acquittal.
to be (causatively, make) right (in a moral or forensic sense) BDB: be just Usage: cleanse, clear self, (be, do) just(-ice, -ify, -ify self), (be turn to) righteous(-ness).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 41 lexical occurrence verses.
צָדַק is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Expresses covenant vindication through the Lord. Isaiah 45:20-25
Frames the Servant’s ultimate acquittal by God. Isaiah 50:4-9
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Tsadaq opens the forensic dimension of salvation — how a sinner stands before a holy God. The OT raises the question (Job 9:2); the prophets begin pointing to an answer (Isa 53:11); the NT declares the answer in Christ. Preaching tsadaq means preaching the problem before the solution: unless the congregation feels the weight of 'how can a mortal be right before God?', the answer of justification will seem like a solution to a problem they don't think they have.
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