ṣədāqāh

Semantic range

1. 1conformity to a standard; straightness
2. 2just and generous conduct toward others
3. 3vindication, deliverance — God's saving righteousness
4. 4in later Hebrew: almsgiving

Righteousness in Hebrew is relational rather than merely moral: it describes acting rightly toward the parties one is bound to. That is why ṣədāqāh so often appears beside mišpāṭ (justice) and why prophetic indictments of Israel are overwhelmingly about the treatment of the poor, the widow and the stranger (Isaiah 1:17; Amos 5:24).

By the rabbinic period the noun had come to mean charitable giving outright, a drift that says something true: in the Hebrew Bible you cannot be righteous privately. King Benjamin's sermon works from the identical premise — service to fellow beings is service to God (Mosiah 2:17), and retaining a remission of sins requires imparting of one's substance (Mosiah 4:26).

See also

• מִשְׁפָּטmišpāṭ
• δικαιοσύνηdikaiosynē
• חֶסֶדḥesed