H6664 — צֶדֶק (tsedeq)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H6664
Original: צֶדֶק
Transliteration: tsedeq
Pronunciation: tseh'-dek
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: צָדַק (tsadaq, H6663) — to be right, to be just
Occurrences: 112 unique verses (119 tokens) across 12 books
First Occurrence: Lev 19:15 — "thou shalt in righteousness judge thy neighbour"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H6663 (tsadaq); the right (natural, moral or legal); also (abstractly) equity or (figuratively) prosperity: — even, (that which is altogether) just(-ice), (un-)right(-eous) (cause, -ly, -ness).

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
righteousness / in/of/with righteousness	~65	~58%
just / justice / of justice	~12	~11%
righteously	3	3%
right / the right	3	3%
Other (thy righteous, righteous cause, equity, even)	~29	~26%

Primary gloss is righteousness (~58% of uses); justice and just account for ~14%.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Psalms	49	2.0
Isaiah	25	1.9
Zephaniah	1	1.9
Ecclesiastes	3	1.4
Proverbs	9	1.0
Hosea	2	1.0
Job	7	0.7
Deuteronomy	5	0.5
Jeremiah	6	0.4
Daniel	1	0.3
Leviticus	2	0.2
Ezekiel	2	0.2

Pattern: Heavily concentrated in Psalms (44% of all uses) and Isaiah (22%). Wisdom literature (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes) and prophets together account for 97% of usage. Sparse in Pentateuch (7 occurrences), limited to legal/ethical contexts (weights, measures, judicial process). Absent from narrative books (Genesis, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Equitable Legal Standard (Weights, Measures, Judicial Process)¶

tsedeq as the objective norm of right conduct in commercial and judicial contexts.

Lev 19:15 — "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour."
Lev 19:36 — "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have."
Deut 16:20 — "That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land."
Deut 25:15 — "Thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure."

2. God's Righteous Character and Throne¶

tsedeq as the fundamental attribute of God's nature and the foundation of his rule.

Ps 89:14 — "Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face."
Ps 97:2 — "Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne."
Ps 97:6 — "The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory."
Ps 50:6 — "And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself."

3. Personal Moral Uprightness¶

tsedeq as an individual's righteous conduct or standing before God and community.

Ps 15:2 — "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart."
Ps 18:20 — "The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me."
Job 29:14 — "I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem."
Isa 58:2 — "they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness."

4. God's Commandments/Torah as Righteousness¶

tsedeq applied to the divine law itself — God's statutes are tsedeq in substance.

Ps 119:138 — "Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful."
Ps 119:142 — "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth."
Ps 119:172 — "My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness."
Ps 23:3 — "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

5. The tsedeq–Mishpat Couplet (Righteousness and Justice Paired)¶

tsedeq almost always appears alongside mishpat (H4941, "justice/judgment"). Together they form the standard ethical pair in the prophets and Psalms.

Ps 85:10 — "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."
Prov 1:3 — "To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity."
Hos 2:19 — "I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness."
Ps 37:6 — "And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday."

6. Messianic and Eschatological Righteousness¶

tsedeq used prophetically for the coming righteous king and the restoration of righteousness to the earth.

Jer 23:6 — "And this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
Isa 32:1 — "Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment."
Isa 45:8 — "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together."
Dan 9:24 — "Seventy weeks are determined… to bring in everlasting righteousness."

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	33x (29%)	"YHWH judges / acts with tsedeq"; "tsedeq of YHWH"
מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat)	H4941	30x (27%)	Paired "tsedeq and mishpat" — righteousness and justice
שָׁפַט (shaphat)	H8199	19x (17%)	"judge with tsedeq"
אֱלֹהִים (Elohim)	H430	13x (12%)	"God of tsedeq"; divine attribute
עַם (am)	H5971	11x (10%)	"judge the people with tsedeq"
אֶמֶת (emeth)	H571	8x (7%)	Triad: truth, righteousness, faithfulness
שׁוּב (shuv)	H7725	8x (7%)	"return to tsedeq"; restoration language
אֱמוּנָה (emunah)	H530	6x (5%)	"in righteousness and faithfulness"

Word Family (צדק root)¶

Word	Strong's	POS	Gloss
צָדַק (tsadaq)	H6663	verb	be righteous, justify, be vindicated
צֶדֶק (tsedeq)	H6664	masc. noun	righteousness, justice (this word)
צִדְקָה (tsidqah)	H6665	fem. noun (Aramaic)	beneficence, righteousness (Dan 4:27 only)
צְדָקָה (tsedaqah)	H6666	fem. noun	righteousness, righteous act, justice
צַדִּיק (tsaddiq)	H6662	adjective	just, righteous (person)

Synonyms¶

search_relationships.py returns a broad semantic neighborhood for this noun; the closest lexical neighbors include:

H4941 מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) — justice, judgment; the noun most constantly paired with tsedeq.
H530 אֱמוּנָה (emunah) and H571 אֶמֶת (emeth) — faithfulness / truth; ethical-rightness neighbors in covenant and wisdom contexts.
H3477 יָשָׁר (yashar), H4334 מִישׁוֹר (mishor), H4339 מֵישָׁר (meyshar), and H8537 תֹּם (tom) — uprightness / equity / straightness cluster.
H8003 שָׁלֵם (shalem) — completeness, wholeness, peaceable soundness; a neighboring "rightness/wholeness" term.
H2617 חֶסֶד (chesed) and H6037 עַנְוָה (anavah) — kindness / meekness; related ethical virtues in the same moral field.
H3444 יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah) and H3468 יֶשַׁע (yesha') — deliverance / salvation; frequent outcomes or companions of God's righteousness.
H3519 כָּבוֹד (kabod) — glory / honor; surfaced by the relationship tool as part of the wider honor-rightness field.

Antonyms¶

search_relationships.py returns a broad contrastive set here; the clearest opposites are direct injustice/crookedness terms, with one looser contrastive neighbor retained as returned by the tool.

H5766 עֶוֶל (evel) and H7562 רֶשַׁע (resha') — injustice / wickedness; direct moral opposites to tsedeq.
H4820 מִרְמָה (mirmah) — deceit, fraud; opposite to the truth and equity side of tsedeq.
H6141 עִקֵּשׁ (iqqesh) and H6617 פָּתַל (pathal) — crooked / tortuous; direct opposites to straightness and uprightness.
H539 אָמַן (aman) — retained as returned by search_relationships.py; here it functions as a broader contrastive neighbor rather than a clean antonym.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
צְדָקָה (tsedaqah)	H6666	righteousness, justice	Same root, feminine form; tsedaqah tends toward concrete righteous acts or beneficence; tsedeq is the abstract standard or norm of rightness. Both share nearly all KJV translations.
מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat)	H4941	justice, judgment	mishpat is the verdict or judicial process; tsedeq is the ethical norm against which the verdict is measured. They nearly always appear together.
צַדִּיק (tsaddiq)	H6662	just, righteous	tsaddiq is the adjectival form — describing a righteous person; tsedeq is the abstract noun — the quality or standard of righteousness.

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[002001001029] Good — places tsedeq within the broader field of moral goodness and rightness.
[002001003014] Right — centers the straight/right/equitable sense of the noun.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI Score	Notes
δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosyne)	G1343	81x	26.71	Primary — used in ~72% of LXX renderings
δίκαιος (dikaios)	G1342	23x	12.96	Adjectival rendering; "righteous/just"
ἀλήθεια (aletheia)	G225	14x	12.23	When tsedeq is paired with emeth; both rendered "truth"
κρίμα (krima)	G2917	17x	12.05	When tsedeq is in judicial/verdict contexts
κρίσις (krisis)	G2920	13x	10.24	Judgment/decision contexts

The LXX bridge tsedeq → dikaiosyne is extremely strong (PMI 26.71). This noun-to-noun equivalence is the primary channel through which the OT concept of cosmic and divine righteousness enters the NT vocabulary.