dikaiosynē · righteousness

What it means

dikaiosynē (δικαιοσύνη) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “righteousness”.

What is right before God, and living by it.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. Doing what is just, living as God wants.
2. Being made right with God through faith.

From Abbott-Smith (1922) · Thayer (1889)

Word study

Righteousness: what is right and in keeping with God's will, and the standing of one whom God declares righteous. It is the noun of δίκαιος, “righteous” (G1342). Thayer: the state acceptable to God; integrity, uprightness; in Paul, the righteousness God gives through faith.

• “Hunger and thirst for righteousness”; “his righteousness” Matthew 5:6Matthew 6:33
• “To fulfill all righteousness” Matthew 3:15
• “The righteousness of God” revealed through faith Romans 1:17Romans 3:22Philippians 3:9
• “It was counted to him as righteousness” Romans 4:3
• “So that we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:21

How we translate it

Always “righteousness” (91 times). This edition's glossary sets dikaiosynē / dikaios / dikaioō = “righteousness / righteous / declare righteous”, so that it can be seen that the three words are one family (“having been declared righteous”, Romans 5:1); in the Old Testament, צֶדֶק / צְדָקָה (H6664, H6666) are also “righteousness”.

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Matthew×7
• Luke×1
• John×2
• Acts×4
• Romans×33
• 1 Corinthians×1
• 2 Corinthians×7
• Galatians×4
• Ephesians×3
• Philippians×4
• 1 Timothy×1
• 2 Timothy×3
• Titus×1
• Hebrews×6
• James×3
• 1 Peter×2
• 2 Peter×4
• 1 John×3
• Revelation×2

• Matthew 3:15

  But Jesus answered and said to him, “Allow it now, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allows him to do so.

• Matthew 5:6

  Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

• Matthew 5:10

  Happy are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

• Matthew 5:20

  For I tell you that unless your righteousness far exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.

• Matthew 6:1

  “Be careful not to practice your righteousness before people in order to be seen by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

• Matthew 6:33

  But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

• Matthew 21:32

  For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and you, even when you saw it, did not even regret it afterward so as to believe him.

• Luke 1:75

  in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

• John 16:8

  And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment:

• John 16:10

  concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me;

• Acts 10:35

  but in every nation the one who fears him and does righteousness is acceptable to him.

• Acts 13:10

  and said, “You full of all deceit and all fraud, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

• Acts 17:31

  because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the inhabited world in righteousness, by a man whom he has appointed, having given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

• Acts 24:25

  And as he was discussing righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and answered, “For the present go; and when I get an opportunity, I will summon you.”

• Romans 1:17

  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

• Romans 3:5

  But if our unrighteousness shows the righteousness of God, what shall we say? God, who inflicts wrath, is not unrighteous, is he? (I speak in a human way.)

• Romans 3:21

  But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made manifest, being testified to by the law and the prophets,

• Romans 3:22

  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus the Messiah for all who believe; for there is no distinction,

• Romans 3:25

  whom God put forward as a cover of expiation through faith, in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins committed beforehand

• Romans 3:26

  in the forbearance of God; for the demonstration of his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be righteous and the one who declares righteous the one who is of faith in Jesus.

• Romans 4:3

  For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

• Romans 4:5

  But to the one who does not work but believes in him who declares righteous the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

• Romans 4:6

  just as David also speaks of the happiness of the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

• Romans 4:9

  Is this happiness, then, upon the circumcised or also upon the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

• Romans 4:11

  And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith that he had while uncircumcised, so that he would be the father of all who believe while uncircumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them,

• Romans 4:13

  For the promise to Abraham or to his offspring, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

• Romans 4:22

  That is why it was counted to him as righteousness.

• Romans 5:17

  For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus the Messiah.

• Romans 5:21

  so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus the Messiah our Lord.

• Romans 6:13

  and do not present your members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness to God.

• Romans 6:16

  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

• Romans 6:18

  and, having been set free from sin, you were made slaves to righteousness.

• Romans 6:19

  I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to iniquity for iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

• Romans 6:20

  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.

• Romans 8:10

  But if the Messiah is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.

• Romans 9:30

  What then shall we say? That nations that did not pursue righteousness obtained righteousness, namely, the righteousness that is from faith;

• Romans 9:31

  but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain to that law.

• Romans 10:3

  For, not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.

• Romans 10:4

  For the Messiah is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

• Romans 10:5

  For Moses writes that the person who does the righteousness that is from the law will live by it.

And 51 more times.