Word study
Righteous
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “righteous”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “righteous” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- צַדִּיק tsaddîqjust, righteoustranslated this way 189 times of its 205 uses · Strong’s H6662Adjective · Translated: righteous 162, righteous man 23, innocent 7, more righteous 3Full study and all 197 verses →
Genesis 6:9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.
Exodus 9:27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
- צֶדֶק tsedeqrightness, righteousnesstranslated this way 22 times of its 116 uses · Strong’s H6664Noun · Translated: righteousness 57, righteous 19, honest 6, justice 5Full study and all 111 verses →
Deuteronomy 16:18 You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
Job 8:6 if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate.
- צָדַק tsâdaqbe just, righteoustranslated this way 15 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H6663Verb · Translated: righteous 8, more righteous 3, justify 3, justifying 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Genesis 38:26 Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.
Job 4:17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
- צְדָקָה tsedâqâhrighteousnesstranslated this way 11 times of its 158 uses · Strong’s H6666Noun · Translated: righteousness 114, right 13, righteous acts 7, vindication 5Full study and all 150 verses →
Judges 5:11 the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates:
1 Samuel 12:7 Now present yourselves, so that I may confront you before the LORD with all the righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δίκαιος díkaiosjust, righteous, impartialtranslated this way 56 times of its 79 uses · Strong’s G1342Adjective · Translated: righteous 55, right 9, just 6, of 2Full study and all 74 verses →
Matthew 1:19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly.
Mark 2:17 On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
- δικαίωμα dikaíōmaa thing pronounced to be justtranslated this way 4 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1345Noun · Translated: regulations 2, righteous acts 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Romans 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
Revelation 15:4 Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
- δικαιοσύνη dikaiosýnējustice, justness, righteousnesstranslated this way 2 times of its 90 uses · Strong’s G1343Noun · Translated: righteousness 83, right 2, justice 2, righteous acts 1Full study and all 86 verses →
Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about righteous: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.