tsadik · righteous

What it means

tsadik (צַדִּיק) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “righteous”.

One who does what is right before God and before others; just, innocent.

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. Someone who lives uprightly; also YHWH.
2. The one in the right, the innocent.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Righteous: one who acts uprightly and, in a dispute, the one who is in the right or innocent. It comes from צָדַק, “be righteous”.

• Noah, a righteous man Genesis 6:9
• “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” Genesis 18:23Genesis 18:25
• The righteous over against the wicked Psalms 1:5Proverbs 10:7
• YHWH is righteous Psalms 11:7Psalms 145:17
• The innocent party in a trial Proverbs 17:15

How we translate it

“Righteous” 205 times. This edition's glossary sets “righteous”, so that its family can be seen: צֶדֶק and צְדָקָה, “righteousness”, and הִצְדִּיק, “declare righteous”; its usual opposite, רָשָׁע, is “wicked”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• righteous ×205
• He is right ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×10
• Exodus×3
• Deuteronomy×4
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×2
• 2 Kings×1
• 2 Chronicles×2
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×7
• Psalms×52
• Proverbs×66
• Ecclesiastes×8
• Isaiah×14
• Jeremiah×3
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×16
• Daniel×1
• Hosea×1
• Amos×2
• Habakkuk×3
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 6:9

  These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries; with Elohim Noah walked.

• Genesis 7:1

  And YHWH said to Noah, “Come, you and all your household, into the ark, for you I have seen to be righteous before me in this generation.

• Genesis 18:23

  Abraham came near and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

• Genesis 18:24

  Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city; will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

• Genesis 18:25

  Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare like the wicked! Far be it from you! Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?”

• Genesis 18:26

  YHWH said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

• Genesis 18:28

  Perhaps the fifty righteous will lack five; will you destroy for the five the whole city?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find there forty-five.”

• Genesis 20:4

  Now Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, “Adonai, will you kill a nation, even one that is righteous?

• Exodus 9:27

  Then Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and for Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time; YHWH is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones.

• Exodus 23:7

  Keep far from a false matter, and do not kill the innocent and the righteous, for I will not declare righteous the wicked.

• Exodus 23:8

  You shall not take a bribe, for the bribe blinds those who see and subverts the words of the righteous.

• Deuteronomy 4:8

  And what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this instruction that I am setting before you today?

• Deuteronomy 16:19

  You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

• Deuteronomy 25:1

  If there is a dispute between men, and they come near to judgment, and they judge them, they shall declare righteous the righteous and declare wicked the wicked.

• Deuteronomy 32:4

  The Rock: his work is blameless, for all his ways are justice. An El of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he.

• 1 Samuel 24:17

  He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me with good, and I have repaid you with evil.

• 2 Samuel 4:11

  How much more when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed! And now, shall I not require his blood from your hand and remove you from the earth?”

• 2 Samuel 23:3

  The Elohim of Israel said, to me the Rock of Israel spoke: ‘One who rules over human beings, righteous, who rules in the fear of Elohim,

• 1 Kings 2:32

  And YHWH will bring back his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know it: Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

• 1 Kings 8:32

  then you listen in the heavens, and act, and judge your servants, declaring wicked the wicked, putting his way on his head, and declaring righteous the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

• 2 Kings 10:9

  And it happened in the morning that he went out and stood and said to all the people, “You are righteous. Look, I conspired against my master and killed him; but who struck all these?

• 2 Chronicles 6:23

  then you listen from the heavens, and act, and judge your servants, repaying the wicked by putting his way on his head, and declaring righteous the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

• 2 Chronicles 12:6

  The officials of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “YHWH is righteous.”

• Ezra 9:15

  YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, you are righteous, for we have been left as escapees, as at this day. Here we are before you in our guilt, for it is not possible to stand before you because of this.”

• Nehemiah 9:8

  and you found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his offspring; and you have fulfilled your words, for righteous are you.

• Nehemiah 9:33

  Yet you are righteous in all that has come upon us, for faithfully you have acted, while we have done wickedly.

• Job 12:4

  An object of laughter to his companion I am, one who called on Eloah and he answered him; an object of laughter is the righteous, the blameless.

• Job 17:9

  And the righteous holds fast to his way, and the one pure of hands grows in firmness.

• Job 22:19

  The righteous see it and rejoice, and the innocent mocks them:

• Job 27:17

  he may prepare them, but the righteous will wear them, and the innocent will divide the silver.

• Job 32:1

  So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

• Job 34:17

  Can even one who hates justice govern? Or will you declare wicked the righteous mighty one?

• Job 36:7

  He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, and with kings on the throne he seats them forever, and they are exalted.

• Psalms 1:5

  Therefore the wicked will not rise in the judgment, nor sinners in the community of the righteous.

• Psalms 1:6

  For YHWH knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

• Psalms 5:12

  For you bless the righteous, YHWH; as with a large shield with favor you surround him.

• Psalms 7:9

  May the evil of the wicked come to an end, and make firm the righteous; and the one who tests the hearts and the kidneys is the righteous Elohim.

• Psalms 7:11

  Elohim is a righteous judge, and an El who is indignant every day.

• Psalms 11:3

  If the foundations are torn down, what has the righteous done?

• Psalms 11:5

  YHWH tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates.

And 166 more times.