# H6666 - tzedakah

<!-- type: lexicon | created: 2026-05-31 | updated: 2026-05-31 -->

**Strong's:** [H6666](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6666/) · BLB lookup
**Pronunciation:** tsed-aw-kaw'
**Part of speech:** feminine noun (concrete-relational cognate of the abstract masculine [H6664 - tzedeq](/codex/h6664-tzedeq/) *tzedeq*); derived from H6663 (*tzadaq*, "to be just / righteous"); the verbal-adjective form *tzaddik* (H6662) names "the righteous one"
**OT occurrences:** ~158 (compared to ~119 for the masculine *tzedeq*)
**Greek equivalent (LXX):** [G1343 - dikaiosyne](/codex/g1343-dikaiosyne/) *dikaiosynē* (G1343), the direct correspondent that becomes load-bearing in Pauline justification vocabulary
**Modern Hebrew survival:** *tzedakah* is the standard modern Hebrew word for "charity / almsgiving", the concrete-relational deployment of the OT range that the rabbinic tradition crystallized

## Semantic range

The Hebrew *tzedaqah* covers the **concrete-relational deployment** of the righteousness concept that the masculine *tzedeq* names abstractly. Four sub-senses run through the OT use:

1. **Righteousness as moral rectitude**, conformity to a standard; the personal-ethical sense ([Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/), *"Abraham believed YHWH, and He reckoned it to him as *tzedaqah*"*; [Deut 6:25](/codex/deuteronomy-6-25/), *"it will be *tzedaqah* for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment"*)
2. **Justice as equitable judgment**, the social-juridical sense ([Gen 18:19](/codex/genesis-18-19/), *"that he may command his children... to keep the way of the LORD by doing *tzedaqah* and *mishpat*"*; [Ps 33:5](/codex/psalms-33-5/), *"He loveth *tzedaqah* and *mishpat*"*; [Amos 5:24](/codex/amos-5-24/), *"let *mishpat* roll down as waters, and *tzedaqah* as a mighty stream"*)
3. **Righteous-acts / vindications**, plural *tzidqot*, God's saving-righteousness deployed *on behalf of* His people; the Isaianic deployment that makes *tzedaqah* a salvation-vocabulary item ([Isa 46:13](/codex/isaiah-46-13/), *"I bring near my *tzedaqah*; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry"*; [Isa 51:5-8](/codex/isaiah-51-5-8/); [Isa 56:1](/codex/isaiah-56-1/), *"my salvation is near to come, and my *tzedaqah* to be revealed"*; [Judg 5:11](/codex/judges-5-11/), *"the *tzidqot* of YHWH"*)
4. **Charitable deeds / almsgiving**, the concrete-acts-of-mercy deployment that becomes the dominant rabbinic sense and survives in modern Hebrew (cf. [Dan 4:27](/codex/daniel-4-27/), *"break off your sins by *tzedaqah*, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor"*; the trajectory carries into [Matt 6:1](/codex/matthew-6-1/)'s *dikaiosynē* / *eleēmosynē* pair and [2 Cor 9:9-10](/codex/2-corinthians-9-9-10/)'s quotation of [Ps 112:9](/codex/psalms-112-9/))

The English split between *righteousness* (moral) and *justice* (juridical) and *charity* (almsgiving) is a *post-Septuagintal* development; biblical *tzedaqah* holds all three together as one integrated relational-covenantal concept. The masculine *tzedeq* names the *standard* / the *abstract attribute*; the feminine *tzedaqah* names *what righteousness looks like enacted*, the concrete deeds, the vindicating acts, the relational-rectifying movements.

## Theological force

### Stream 1, [Genesis 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) and the Pauline anchor

The single most theologically loaded use of *tzedaqah* in the OT is **[Genesis 15.6](/codex/genesis-15-6/)**:

> *"And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for tzedaqah."* (ASV)

The verse is the foundation-stone of the Pauline doctrine of justification. Paul anchors the entire argument of [Romans 4](/codex/romans-4/) and [Galatians 3](/codex/galatians-3/) on [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) ([Romans 4.3](/codex/romans-4-3/), 4:9, 4:22-24; [Galatians 3.6](/codex/galatians-3-6/)). The structural moves Paul draws from the verse:

- Abraham is *reckoned* (*chashab*, H2803; LXX *logizomai*) *tzedaqah*, the verb is forensic / accounting, not transformative-moral
- The *ground* of the reckoning is *faith* (*aman* / *emunah*, H539; LXX *pisteuō*), not works
- The chronology of [Gen 15](/codex/genesis-15/) *precedes* the Sinai covenant (430 years) and Abraham's circumcision ([Gen 17](/codex/genesis-17/), 13+ years later), neither law nor circumcision can be the ground of the reckoning
- The pattern Abraham models is *available to all who believe* ([Rom 4:11-16](/codex/romans-4-11-16/); [Gal 3:7-9](/codex/galatians-3-7-9/)), not restricted to ethnic Israel

The Hebrew *tzedaqah* in [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/), rendered *dikaiosynē* in the LXX and quoted by Paul, becomes the load-bearing single-verse OT base for *sola fide* / justification-by-faith. Patristic engagement: Augustine (*De Spiritu et Littera* 11; *Contra Iulianum* II.8.23), Aquinas (*ST* I-II, q. 113), Luther (*Lectures on Romans* on 4:3), Calvin (*Institutes* III.11.6-12) all anchor on [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) *tzedaqah*.

See [Justification by Faith](/codex/justification-by-faith/) for the full doctrinal treatment.

### Stream 2, The Isaianic vindication deployment (*tzidqot*)

The most distinctive OT-prophetic deployment of *tzedaqah* is the Isaianic **plural** *tzidqot*, God's *vindicating-saving acts* on behalf of His people. The Second-Isaiah passages ([Isa 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-55) carry the deployment maximally:

- **[Isa 45:24](/codex/isaiah-45-24/)**, *"only in YHWH are *tzedaqot* and strength"*
- **[Isa 46:13](/codex/isaiah-46-13/)**, *"I bring near my *tzedaqah*; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory"*
- **[Isa 51:5-8](/codex/isaiah-51-5-8/)**, the threefold *tzidqi* / *yeshuati* pairing: *"my *tzedaqah* is near, my salvation is gone forth... my *tzedaqah* shall be forever, and my salvation unto all generations"*
- **[Isa 54:17](/codex/isaiah-54-17/)**, the famous covenant-protection: *"no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper... this is the heritage of the servants of YHWH, and their *tzedaqah* is of me"*
- **[Isa 56:1](/codex/isaiah-56-1/)**, the opening of Third-Isaiah: *"keep ye justice (*mishpat*), and do *tzedaqah*; for my salvation is near to come, and my *tzedaqah* to be revealed"*
- **[Isa 59:14-17](/codex/isaiah-59-14-17/)**, *tzedaqah* paired with *mishpat* in the indictment-and-vindication oracle
- **[Isa 61:10](/codex/isaiah-61-10/)**, *"he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of *tzedaqah*"*, the eschatological wedding-garment

The Isaianic *tzedaqah* is not God's *attribute-of-character-considered-abstractly* but God's *enacted vindication* of His covenant people. This deployment shapes Paul's *dikaiosynē theou* ("the righteousness of God") in [Rom 1:17](/codex/romans-1-17/), [3](/codex/romans-1-3/):21-26, 10:3, not a divine *attribute* the believer must measure up to, but a divine *saving-act* by which God *rectifies* the covenant relationship through the gospel of Christ. **N.T. Wright** (*The Climax of the Covenant*, 1991; *Paul and the Faithfulness of God*, 2013), the "New Perspective" lineage, and the older Reformed reading (Calvin, Vos) converge on the Isaianic-vindication background for Paul's *dikaiosynē*-language even where they diverge on imputation.

### Stream 3, Covenantal-ethical *tzedaqah u-mishpat*

The pair *tzedaqah u-mishpat*, "righteousness and justice", is the most-paired OT divine-attribute combination, second only to *hesed v'emet*. The pair grounds the prophetic ethical demand:

- **[Gen 18:19](/codex/genesis-18-19/)**, the Abrahamic mandate: *"that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of YHWH, to do *tzedaqah* and *mishpat*"*
- **[Ps 33:5](/codex/psalms-33-5/)**, *"He loveth *tzedaqah* and *mishpat*; the earth is full of the *hesed* of YHWH"*
- **[Ps 89:14](/codex/psalms-89-14/); 97:2**, *"*tzedeq* and *mishpat* are the foundation of Your throne"*
- **[Isa 1:27](/codex/isaiah-1-27/)**, *"Zion shall be redeemed with *mishpat*, and her converts with *tzedaqah*"*
- **[Isa 32:17](/codex/isaiah-32-17/)**, *"the work of *tzedaqah* shall be peace; and the effect of *tzedaqah*, quietness and confidence forever"*
- **[Jer 9:24](/codex/jeremiah-9-24/)**, *"I am YHWH who exerciseth *hesed*, *mishpat*, and *tzedaqah* in the earth: for in these things I delight"*
- **[Ezek 18:5-9](/codex/ezekiel-18-5-9/)**, the extended definition of the *tzaddik*: keeps *mishpat* and *tzedaqah*, does not oppress, gives bread to the hungry, covers the naked, judges truly
- **[Hos 10:12](/codex/hosea-10-12/)**, *"sow to yourselves in *tzedaqah*, reap according to *hesed*; break up your fallow ground"*
- **[Mic 6:8](/codex/micah-6-8/)**, *"to do *mishpat*, and to love *hesed*, and to walk humbly with thy God"* (uses *mishpat* alongside *hesed*; the *tzedaqah* concept inhabits the same field)
- **[Amos 5:24](/codex/amos-5-24/)**, *"let *mishpat* roll down as waters, and *tzedaqah* as a mighty stream"*

The prophetic ethical demand is *not* legalistic-works-righteousness in the polemical sense; it is *covenantal-relational rectitude*, life lived within the covenant such that one's neighbor receives what covenant fidelity owes. The Christian deployment carries forward in [Matt 5:6](/codex/matthew-5-6/) (*"hunger and thirst after *dikaiosynē*"*), [Matt 6:33](/codex/matthew-6-33/) (*"seek first the kingdom of God and his *dikaiosynē*"*), [James 2:14-26](/codex/james-2-14-26/) (*"faith without works is dead"*, the works-paragraph that quotes [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/)).

### Stream 4, *Tzedaqah* as almsgiving

The transition from "righteous-acts" to "charitable-deeds-specifically" happens within the OT itself and culminates in Second Temple and rabbinic usage:

- **[Dan 4:27](/codex/daniel-4-27/)** (Aramaic *tzidqah*), *"break off your sins by *tzedaqah*, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor"*, the verse Reformation-era polemic attacked Roman almsgiving theology with, and which orthodox-Jewish tradition reads straight as the canonical almsgiving deployment
- **[Ps 112:9](/codex/psalms-112-9/)**, *"he hath dispersed, he hath given to the needy; his *tzedaqah* endureth forever"*, quoted by Paul at [2 Cor 9:9](/codex/2-corinthians-9-9/) in the collection-for-Jerusalem context

By the rabbinic period *tzedakah* (mod. Heb.) means "charity" first. The [Matt 6:1-4](/codex/matthew-6-1-4/) word *dikaiosynē* (in the textual tradition reading *dikaiosynē* rather than *eleēmosynē*) reflects this register: *"take heed that ye do not your *dikaiosynē* before men, to be seen of them... when therefore thou doest *alms* (*eleēmosynē*)..."* The two are functionally interchangeable in first-century Palestinian Jewish ethics. An *Almsgiving in Christian Practice* hub is a candidate follow-up.

## Notable verses

### The Pauline anchor
- **[Genesis 15.6](/codex/genesis-15-6/)**, *"He reckoned it to him for *tzedaqah*"*, the load-bearing OT base for justification by faith

### The Isaianic vindication deployment
- **[Isaiah 46.13](/codex/isaiah-46-13/)** (stub built 2026-05-31), *"I bring near my *tzedaqah*;... salvation in Zion"*
- **[Isaiah 56.1](/codex/isaiah-56-1/)** (stub built 2026-05-31), *"keep ye justice, and do *tzedaqah*; for my salvation is near"*
- [Isaiah 45:24](/codex/isaiah-45-24/); 51:5-8; 54:17; 59:14-17; 61:10, the broader *tzidqot* deployment
- [Isaiah 32:17](/codex/isaiah-32-17/), *"the work of *tzedaqah* shall be peace"*

### Covenantal-ethical *tzedaqah u-mishpat*
- **[Isaiah 1.27](/codex/isaiah-1-27/)** (stub built 2026-05-31), *"Zion shall be redeemed with *mishpat*, and her converts with *tzedaqah*"*
- **[Hosea 10.12](/codex/hosea-10-12/)** (stub built 2026-05-31), *"sow to yourselves in *tzedaqah*, reap according to *hesed*"*
- **[Micah 6.8](/codex/micah-6-8/)**, the canonical ethical-summary verse (uses *mishpat* + *hesed*; *tzedaqah* operates in the same conceptual field)
- **[Psalms 11.7](/codex/psalms-11-7/)**, *"For YHWH is *tzaddik*; He loveth *tzedaqot*"*
- [Genesis 18:19](/codex/genesis-18-19/) (Abrahamic mandate); [Psalm 33:5](/codex/psalms-33-5/); [Psalm 89:14](/codex/psalms-89-14/); [Jeremiah 9:24](/codex/jeremiah-9-24/); [Ezekiel 18:5-9](/codex/ezekiel-18-5-9/); [Amos 5:24](/codex/amos-5-24/)

### NT deployment via *dikaiosynē*
- **[Romans 1.17](/codex/romans-1-17/)**, *"the *dikaiosynē* of God is revealed"*, Paul's programmatic deployment
- [Romans 3:21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/), the *dikaiosynē theou* manifested apart from law
- [Romans 4:3](/codex/romans-4-3/), Paul quotes [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) directly
- [Galatians 3:6](/codex/galatians-3-6/), parallel quotation of [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/)
- [Matthew 5:6](/codex/matthew-5-6/), *"blessed are they that hunger and thirst after *dikaiosynē*"*
- [Matthew 6:33](/codex/matthew-6-33/), *"seek first the kingdom of God and his *dikaiosynē*"*
- **[2 Corinthians 5.21](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/)**, *"that we might become the *dikaiosynē* of God in him"*, the great-exchange verse

### Almsgiving register
- **[Daniel 4:27](/codex/daniel-4-27/)**, *"break off your sins by *tzedaqah*"*
- **[Psalm 112:9](/codex/psalms-112-9/)** (quoted at [2 Corinthians 9:9](/codex/2-corinthians-9-9/)), *"his *tzedaqah* endureth forever"*

## Patristic / scholarly note

**Patristic and scholastic.** The Latin tradition rendered *tzedaqah* via *iustitia* (justice), the choice that shapes Augustine's massive treatment in *De Spiritu et Littera*, *Contra Iulianum*, and the anti-Pelagian corpus, where *iustitia* covers both the divine-attribute and the divine-gift senses. **Augustine** distinguishes *iustitia hominum* (human righteousness) from *iustitia Dei* (the righteousness God gives) and locates Pauline *dikaiosynē theou* in the latter, the basis of all subsequent Western imputation-theology. **Aquinas** (*ST* I-II, qq. 113-114; II-II, qq. 58, 80) treats *iustitia* as the cardinal virtue of giving each what is owed; divine *iustitia* operates analogically. Aquinas distinguishes *iustitia particularis* (rendering to particular persons) from *iustitia legalis* / *generalis* (rendering to the common good), both of which sit downstream of biblical *tzedaqah u-mishpat*.

**Reformation.** Luther's *Turmerlebnis* (the "tower experience," c. 1515-1518) turned on the discovery that Pauline *dikaiosynē theou* / *iustitia Dei* is not God's *demanding* attribute but God's *gifting* righteousness *through the gospel*, the discovery that opens the Reformation. The Hebrew background was implicit but load-bearing: the Isaianic-vindication deployment of *tzedaqah* is precisely the "righteousness God gives by which the believer lives" Paul says in [Rom 1:17](/codex/romans-1-17/) (quoting [Hab 2:4](/codex/habakkuk-2-4/)). **Calvin** (*Institutes* III.11.2-3) develops the *iustitia imputata* (imputed righteousness) doctrine on the [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) / [Rom 4:3](/codex/romans-4-3/) *chashab*-as-*logizomai* base. **Melanchthon** (*Loci Communes*; *Apology of the Augsburg Confession* IV) formalizes the forensic-imputation reading.

**Modern Hebraist scholarship.** Brown-Driver-Briggs, HALOT, *TDOT* (vol. 12), *NIDOTTE* (vol. 3, pp. 744-769, by D.J. Reimer), *tzedaqah* gets the largest single-entry treatment of any OT righteousness-vocabulary item. **Klaus Koch**'s *sphere-of-action* reading (the *Tat-Folge-Zusammenhang*, "act-consequence-relationship") and **Hermann Cremer**'s relational-covenantal reading shape twentieth-century engagement. **N.T. Wright** (*Paul and the Faithfulness of God*, 2013) and the broader New Perspective lineage emphasize the Isaianic-covenantal-vindication background. **John Piper** (*The Future of Justification*, 2007; *Counted Righteous in Christ*, 2002) defends the older Reformed imputation-reading. **D.A. Carson** (with Mark Seifrid eds., *Justification and Variegated Nomism*, 2 vols., 2001/2004) offers the major collaborative response to New Perspective re-readings.

**Rabbinic-Jewish tradition.** *Tzedakah* in the rabbinic frame becomes the standard word for *charity / almsgiving*; **Maimonides** (*Mishneh Torah*, *Hilkhot Matnot Aniyim* 10) gives the famous eight-degree taxonomy of *tzedakah*-giving. The modern-Hebrew survival of *tzedakah* meaning "charity" carries forward this rabbinic crystallization of OT *tzedaqah*'s concrete-relational sense.

**Apologetic relevance.** The classical Protestant doctrine of justification by faith (the *material principle* of the Reformation) stands or falls on the OT *tzedaqah* deployment Paul reads through. Roman-Catholic, Eastern-Orthodox, New Perspective, and Reformed readings differ on *how* the Pauline *dikaiosynē*-language relates to its OT base, but all four agree that [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) *tzedaqah* / [Isa 46:13](/codex/isaiah-46-13/) *tzedaqah-yeshuah* are the anchor texts. The lexical entry is therefore foundational to any soteriological apologetic, from Trent's anathemas to the contemporary justification debates.

## Verses in this codex

_See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Anchor texts: [Genesis 15.6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) (Pauline anchor); [Isaiah 1.27](/codex/isaiah-1-27/) (Zion redeemed); [Isaiah 46.13](/codex/isaiah-46-13/) (vindication-salvation pair); [Isaiah 56.1](/codex/isaiah-56-1/) (Third-Isaiah opening); [Hosea 10.12](/codex/hosea-10-12/) (sow *tzedaqah*, reap *hesed*); [Micah 6.8](/codex/micah-6-8/) (ethical summary); [Psalms 11.7](/codex/psalms-11-7/) (YHWH loves *tzedaqot*).

## See also

- [H6664 - tzedeq](/codex/h6664-tzedeq/), *tzedeq* (masculine cognate), the abstract-attribute pair to this concrete-relational deployment
- [G1343 - dikaiosyne](/codex/g1343-dikaiosyne/), *dikaiosynē* (Greek correspondent), the LXX rendering load-bearing in Pauline justification vocabulary
- [H2617 - hesed](/codex/h2617-hesed/), *ḥesed* (covenant loyalty), companion covenant-attribute often paired with *tzedaqah*
- *H539 - aman*, *aman* / *emunah* (to believe / faithfulness), the verb of [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) alongside *tzedaqah*
- [Justification by Faith](/codex/justification-by-faith/), the load-bearing doctrinal hub anchored on [Gen 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/) *tzedaqah*
- [Imputed Righteousness](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/), the Reformed-imputation hub
- *Almsgiving in Christian Practice* (pending hub), the *tzedakah*-as-charity register
- Passages: [Genesis 15.6](/codex/genesis-15-6/), [Isaiah 46.13](/codex/isaiah-46-13/), [Isaiah 56.1](/codex/isaiah-56-1/), [Isaiah 1.27](/codex/isaiah-1-27/), [Hosea 10.12](/codex/hosea-10-12/), [Micah 6.8](/codex/micah-6-8/), [Psalms 11.7](/codex/psalms-11-7/), [Romans 1.17](/codex/romans-1-17/), [2 Corinthians 5.21](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/)

## Notes

_Lexical workspace for tzedaqah._