StrongerBible

tsaddiq

צַדִּיק

HebrewH6662“righteous, just, ...”

Appears 206 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 6:9Gen 7:1Gen 18:23Gen 18:24 (2×)Gen 18:25 (2×)Gen 18:26Gen 18:28Gen 20:4Exo 9:27Exo 23:7Exo 23:8Deu 4:8Deu 16:19Deu 25:1Deu 32:41Sa 24:17(18)2Sa 4:112Sa 23:31Ki 2:321Ki 8:322Ki 10:92Ch 6:23Job 22:19Job 36:7Psa 1:5Psa 1:6Psa 32:11Psa 33:1Psa 34:15(16)Psa 37:12Psa 37:16Psa 37:17Psa 37:29Psa 37:32Psa 37:39Psa 52:6(8)Psa 55:22(23)Psa 58:11(12)Psa 68:3(4)Psa 97:11Psa 125:3 (2×)Pro 12:21Pro 13:22Ecc 8:14Ecc 9:1Ezk 23:45Hos 14:9(10)
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradetsah-DEEKadjective

What tsaddiq means

in the right: the person, ruler, or God whose conduct and claim match what is right and so stand up when tested

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

At its core this word names someone who is in the right. That covers a person whose life lines up with what God requires, an innocent party whose case is sound, a king who rules as he should, and God himself, who is always in the right. The English word "righteous" stretches across all of these, which is why one word holds them together.

The word lives most at home in two settings. One is the law court: the person in the right is the one a fair hearing will clear, set against the guilty party who should lose. The other is the contrast that runs through the Psalms and Proverbs, where the righteous person is set against the wicked as two ways of living that lead to two different ends. These are not separate words but the same idea seen from different angles, since to be in the right is already to have a claim that an honest judge will uphold.

When the word is said of God, it claims that he is wholly in the right in all he does, including his judgments, so that even his people can confess he is just when he punishes them. When it is said of a king, it points to a ruler who governs as a true and rightful king should, defending the weak rather than exploiting them. The same core runs through every use: matching what is right, and so being upheld.

Nuances

1athe righteous person, the one who lives rightly, set against the wicked
Gen 6:9Gen 7:1Psa 1:5Psa 1:6Psa 5:12Psa 7:9Psa 32:11Psa 34:15(16)Psa 34:19Psa 34:21Psa 37:12Psa 37:16
1bthe innocent party, the one in the right in a legal case, opposed to the guilty
Gen 18:23Gen 18:24 (2×)Gen 18:25 (2×)Gen 18:26Gen 18:28Gen 20:4Exo 23:7Exo 23:8Deu 16:19Deu 25:12Sa 4:111Ki 2:32
1cGod himself: righteous, just, always in the right, even in his judgments
Exo 9:27Deu 32:4Ezr 9:15Neh 9:8Neh 9:33Psa 7:9Psa 11:7Psa 116:5Psa 119:137Psa 129:4Psa 145:17Jer 12:1
1da just, rightful king or ruler, one who governs as he should
2Sa 23:3Jer 23:5Zec 9:9
1eright and just: statutes or judgments that match the standard God gives
Deu 4:8

Disputed

Scholars disagree over what makes a person or God a tsaddiq: whether being in the right is fundamentally faithfulness to the demands of a relationship, or conformity to a standard of what is right that is tested, often in a law court.

  • contestedForensic and norm-based: to be in the right is to match a real standard of what is right, with the law court as the word's natural home, so God's righteousness can include just judgment on his own people; Mark A. Seifrid, "Righteousness Language in the Hebrew Scriptures and Early Judaism," in Justification and Variegated Nomism, vol. 1 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001), 415-442; Charles Lee Irons, The Righteousness of God, WUNT II/386 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015); Stephen Westerholm, Perspectives Old and New on Paul (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004)
  • contestedRelational: to be in the right is to fulfill the demands of a relationship, so that the relationship itself is the measure and God's righteousness is by definition saving rather than punitive; Hermann Cremer, Die paulinische Rechtfertigungslehre im Zusammenhange ihrer geschichtlichen Voraussetzungen (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1899); Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, trans. D. M. G. Stalker (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1962), 1:370-383; Klaus Koch, "צדק ṣdq gemeinschaftstreu/heilvoll sein," in Theologisches Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament, vol. 2 (München: Kaiser, 1976), cols. 507-530

What scholars say about tsaddiq

The standard lexica agree on the surface range of the adjective (just, in the right, righteous; the innocent party in a dispute; said of persons, kings, and God) while differing over which sense is basic. BDB organizes the root around rightness in conduct; HALOT absorbs the relational reading, glossing the root as right order and noting its parallel with salvation language in Deutero-Isaiah, where God is called a righteous one and a savior (Isaiah 45:21); DCH refuses theologically loaded glosses and simply records the adjective's collocations, including its standing opposite, the wicked. The word's home settings are widely taken to be the law court (the innocent party, the just verdict) and the wisdom contrast of the righteous against the wicked. The basic meaning of the whole family is contested: Mark Seifrid and Charles Lee Irons argue for a forensic, norm-based reading against the older relational consensus of Hermann Cremer, Gerhard von Rad, and Klaus Koch, who read the root as fidelity within a relationship. Hans Heinrich Schmid set the term against the wider ancient Near Eastern background of cosmic-social order (Egyptian maat, Akkadian kittu and misharu), and Moshe Weinfeld read the prophets' pairing of justice and righteousness as concrete social-justice policy. The royal use, where a rightful king is called righteous, has close parallels in Phoenician royal inscriptions that call a king legitimate (mlk sdq).

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1906), 841b-843blexicon
  • Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, and J. J. Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, trans. M. E. J. Richardson (Leiden: Brill, 1994-2000), 3:1003-1007lexicon
  • David J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. 7 (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2010), s.v. צדקlexicon
  • H. Ringgren and B. Johnson, "צדק ṣādaq," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 12 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 239-264theological-dictionary
  • Klaus Koch, "צדק ṣdq gemeinschaftstreu/heilvoll sein," in Theologisches Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament, vol. 2 (München: Kaiser, 1976), cols. 507-530theological-dictionary
  • David J. Reimer, "צדק," in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. W. A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 3:744-769theological-dictionary
  • Mark A. Seifrid, "Righteousness Language in the Hebrew Scriptures and Early Judaism," in Justification and Variegated Nomism, vol. 1, ed. D. A. Carson, P. T. O'Brien, and M. A. Seifrid, WUNT II/140 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001), 415-442monograph
  • Charles Lee Irons, The Righteousness of God: A Lexical Examination of the Covenant-Faithfulness Interpretation, WUNT II/386 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015)monograph
  • Hermann Cremer, Die paulinische Rechtfertigungslehre im Zusammenhange ihrer geschichtlichen Voraussetzungen (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1899)monograph
  • Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, trans. D. M. G. Stalker (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1962), 1:370-383monograph
  • Hans Heinrich Schmid, Gerechtigkeit als Weltordnung, BHTh 40 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1968)monograph
  • Moshe Weinfeld, Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East (Jerusalem: Magnes / Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995)monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of צַדִּיק

m s absolute

צַדִּיק, צַּדִּיק

Gen 6:9, Gen 7:1, Gen 18:23, Gen 18:25, Gen 20:4, Exo 23:7, Deu 32:4, 1Sa 24:17

m p absolute

צַדִּיקִים, צַדִּיקִם, צַּדִּיקִים, צַדִּקִים, צַּדִּיקִם

Exo 23:8, Job 22:19, Psa 1:5, Psa 1:6, Psa 32:11, Psa 33:1, Psa 34:15, Psa 37:17