The Hebrew words tseʹdheq and tsedha·qahʹ and the Greek di·kai·o·syʹne appear frequently with reference to the rightness of God’s ways: as Sovereign (Job 37:23; Ps 71:19; 89:14), in administering and executing judgment and justice (Ps 9:8; 85:11; Isa 26:9; 2Co 3:9), in the punishing of his professed people (Isa 10:22), in vindication of himself in judgment (Ps 51:4; Ro 3:4, 5), and in vindication of his people (Mic 7:9).

the Greek di·kai·o·syʹne have the thought of “rectitude,” “uprightness,” indicating a standard or norm determining what is upright. “Righteousness” is frequently used in connection with a judge, or with judgment, giving the term a somewhat legal flavor (hence, the original-language terms are at times translated “justice”). (Ps 35:24; 72:2; 96:13; Isa 11:4; Re 19:11)

Greek scholar Kenneth S. Wuest says: “God is the objective standard which determines the content of meaning of dikaios [righteous], and at the same time keeps that content of meaning constant and unchanging, since He is the unchanging One.” He then quotes Cremer as saying: “Righteousness in the biblical sense is a condition of rightness the standard of which is God, which is estimated according to the divine standard, which shows itself in behavior conformable to God, and has to do above all things with its relation to God, and with the walk before Him. It is, and it is called dikaiosune theou (righteousness of God) (Rom. 3:21, 1:17), righteousness as it belongs to God, and is of value before Him, Godlike righteousness, see Eph. 4:24; with this righteousness thus defined, the gospel (Rom. 1:17) comes into the world of nations which had been wont to measure by a different standard.”​—Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, 1946, p. 37.