Describes a person who is in right standing — conforming to an ethical or legal standard. Appearing over 200 times, tsaddiq is the primary Old Testament word for moral uprightness. It derives from the root tsadaq, carrying the idea of being straight, right, or in conformity with a standard.
In the Old Testament, righteousness is fundamentally relational — a tsaddiq person is right with God and right with others. It is not merely moral perfection but covenant faithfulness. Noah was called tsaddiq (Genesis 6:9), and Abraham's faith was "counted to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).
Habakkuk 2:4 — "the righteous shall live by faith" — became a foundational text for Paul's theology (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11) and for the Protestant Reformation. The Greek equivalent dikaiosynē (G1343) carries this concept into the New Testament.