The Hebrew word for righteousness is Tsedaqah.Tsedaqah is a noun in the feminine form; the masculine form of the word is tsedeq. To most scholars, the words are interchangeable. However, A. Jepsen contends that tsedeq means, "right order" and that tsedaqah is the idea of "human well being" or "right behavior." Since it more often used interchangeably, that is how it is taken in this paper. However, the passages that were taken into account for this paper used tsedaqah only. The stem attached to Tsedaqah is a verb (קרצ), which means "to be righteous," "to be just," to "be in the right," or "to be straight." To most commentators, "to be straight" appears to be the most accurate definition. In later Jewish writings, tsedaqah is most often used as a term of ethical conduct.

             All three versions of the word (the stem, the feminine form, and the masculine form) have a variety of ways in which they are applied. For example, in Isaiah 46:12 and in Micah 7:9 it means "deliverance." Isaiah 5:23 defines it as "right." In other Biblical books outside the eighth century prophets, tsedaqah is used as "vindication", "saving deeds", "saving help", "righteous help", "salvation", "equity", "uprightness", "prosperity", and "integrity." Interestingly, The Jerusalem Bible most frequently translates the word as integrity. The common thread of all of these different renderings of the word is that it is relational. .

             Righteousness in the Old Testament is best understood from the Hebraic concept of the word. Some Christian scholars think of righteousness in the Old Testament as a call to a legalistic religious system rather than to a compassionate religious system. Tsedaqah was definitely a call to justness, fairness, and upright living, but it was more a demand for a personal relationship with God.