Lexicon

H6664 - tzedeq

Strong's: H6664 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: tseh'-dek Part of speech: masculine noun OT occurrences: ~119 (with cognate tzedakah H6666 ~158 more) Greek equivalent (LXX): dikaiosynē (G1343, see G1343 - dikaiosyne)

Semantic range

Righteousness, justice, moral / legal rightness
Right standing / vindication, being declared / shown right
Honesty / truthfulness in some contexts
What is right / proper / fitting

The cognate noun tzedakah (H6666) is the feminine form, semantically nearly synonymous; together they form the tzedeq / tzedakah couplet that dominates OT righteousness vocabulary.

Theological force

Tzedeq of God

YHWH is supremely tzaddik (righteous):

Deuteronomy 32:4, "He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are mishpat; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He"
Psalm 7:11, "God is a righteous (tzaddik) judge"
Psalm 11:7, "the LORD is tzaddik; He loves tzedaqot"
Psalm 36:6, "Your tzedeq is like the mountains of God"
Psalm 119:137, "righteous (tzaddik) are You, O LORD, and upright are Your judgments"
Daniel 9:7, 14, "righteousness belongs to You, O Lord"
Zephaniah 3:5, "the LORD is tzaddik in her midst"

God's tzedeq is His perfect moral character, the standard against which all other righteousness is measured.

Tzedeq and mishpat (justice)

The pair tzedeq u-mishpat, "righteousness and justice", is the most-paired OT divine attribute combination. Together they describe God's perfect moral governance:

Genesis 18:19, Abraham commanded to teach his household tzedaqah u-mishpat
Psalm 33:5, "He loves tzedaqah and mishpat"
Psalm 89:14, "tzedeq and mishpat are the foundation of Your throne"
Psalm 97:2, "tzedeq and mishpat are the foundation of His throne"
Isaiah 1:21, 26-27; 5:7, 16; 28:17; 32:16-17; 33:5, Isaiah's repeated pairing
Jeremiah 22:3, 15; 23:5, Jeremiah's similar use
Amos 5:7, 24; 6:12, prophetic call

The pair grounds the Christian conviction that justice and righteousness are not separate from God's character but are expressions of His character.

Tzedeq as right relationship

In Hebrew thought, tzedeq is fundamentally relational, being-in-right-relationship. This contrasts with later Greek-philosophical or modern-Western tendencies to treat righteousness as abstract conformity to law:

Tzedeq between persons (covenant-faithfulness)
Tzedeq in legal disputes (right verdict)
Tzedeq in trade (just weights and measures, Lev 19:36; Deut 25:15)
Tzedeq in courts (Deut 16:18-20)

Tzedeq and Messiah

The Messiah is The Righteous One:

Jeremiah 23:5-6, "I will raise up for David a tzemach tzaddik (righteous Branch); a King will reign and act wisely and do mishpat u-tzedaqah in the land… this is His name by which He will be called: YHWH Tzidqenu", "the LORD our righteousness"
Jeremiah 33:15-16, parallel
Isaiah 11:5, Messianic king with tzedeq girding His loins
Isaiah 53:11, tzaddik avdi, "My righteous Servant"
Zechariah 9:9, "your King is coming to you; He is tzaddik and endowed with salvation"
Malachi 4:2, "the sun of tzedaqah will rise with healing"

The Christological force: the Messiah is tzaddik, both perfectly righteous and the One who brings tzedaqah / yeshu'ah (salvation).

Imputed tzedeq, the soteriological pivot

Genesis 15:6, v'ya'min ba-YHWH va-yachsh'veha lo tzedaqah, "Abraham believed God, and He credited it to him as tzedaqah."

This is the foundational text for the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith. Paul cites it in Romans 4 and Galatians 3, tzedaqah is credited / imputed through faith. See G3049 - logizomai, G1343 - dikaiosyne, G1344 - dikaioo.

Tzedeq as a divine gift

Beyond Genesis 15:6, the prophets present tzedaqah as God's gift to His people:

Isaiah 45:8, "drip down, O heavens, and let the clouds pour down tzedeq"
Isaiah 51:5-6, 8, "tzidqi draws near, yeshu'ati has gone forth"
Isaiah 54:14, 17, "tzedaqah is from Me"
Isaiah 61:10-11; 62:1-2, tzedaqah and salvation from God

In these prophetic texts, tzedaqah is parallel with yeshu'ah (salvation), tzedaqah is God's saving-righteousness, His covenant-faithfulness manifested in deliverance. This grounds the Pauline dikaiosynē theou, the righteousness of God, given to His people as gift.

Notable verses

Genesis 15:6, Abraham's faith credited as tzedaqah
Genesis 18:19, 23-32, Abraham's intercession; tzedeq contested
Deuteronomy 16:18-20, tzedeq tzedeq tirdof, "righteousness, righteousness shall you pursue"
Deuteronomy 25:15, just weights
Psalm 9:8, God will judge in tzedeq
Psalm 19:9, mishpetei YHWH emet, tzadqu yachdav, God's judgments are true and righteous together
Psalm 22:31, they will declare His tzidqato
Psalm 23:3, "paths of tzedeq"
Psalm 71:15-19, God's tzidqekha declared
Psalm 89:14; 97:2, foundation of God's throne
Psalm 119:137-144, God's righteous statutes
Proverbs 8:8, Wisdom speaks in tzedeq
Isaiah 1:21, 27; 5:23; 11:4-5; 32:1, 16-17; 41:2, 10; 42:6, 21; 45:8, 13, 19, 21-25; 46:13; 51:1, 5-8; 53:11; 54:14, 17; 56:1; 58:2, 8; 59:9, 14, 16-17; 61:3, 10-11; 62:1-2; 63:1; 64:6, extensive Isaianic tzedaqah
Jeremiah 22:13, 15; 23:5-6; 33:15-16, Davidic-Messianic tzedeq
Daniel 9:7, 14, 24, tzedaqah in penitential prayer
Hosea 10:12, "sow with a view to tzedaqah; reap in hesed"
Amos 5:7, 24; 6:12, tzedeq and mishpat in prophetic call
Micah 6:8, "to do mishpat, love hesed, walk humbly"
Habakkuk 2:4, tzaddik be'emunato yichyeh, "the righteous shall live by his faith" (Reformation rallying-cry)

Patristic / scholarly note

The OT tzedeq tradition shapes the Pauline-Reformation doctrine of justification. See G1343 - dikaiosyne for fuller treatment of the Reformation engagement.

Modern OT theology:

Walter Brueggemann (Theology of the Old Testament, 1997)
Bruce Waltke (An Old Testament Theology, 2007)
John Goldingay (Old Testament Theology, 3 vols., 2003-09)
Mark Seifrid (Christ, Our Righteousness, 2000), Reformed tzedeq / dikaiosynē exposition

Notes

Lexical workspace for tzedeq.