righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “justice”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo: “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:16

This verse, which is almost identical to the first half of Isa 59.7, breaks the connection between verses 15 and 17. It is not found in some important Septuagint manuscripts. Some scholars suggest that it has been inserted by later copyists. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that verse 16 be placed in a note in translations that use notes. New American Bible places it between square brackets, New Jerusalem Bible places it in italics, and Moffatt omits it. However, most modern versions keep it without a footnote and this is recommended to translators by the authors of this Handbook.

Verse 16 gives the reason why the learner is being warned. It is stated in the form of a proverb or popular saying.

“Their feet run to evil”: “Feet” is used here as a figure of speech (a part for the whole) and represents the sinners of verse 10. Accordingly, in many languages “feet” must be replaced by “they” or “wicked people.” “Run to evil” means “hurry. . .,” “are in a rush. . .,” or “can’t wait to do something evil.”

In the second line the form of the “evil” is expressed in the phrase “shed blood”, which has the same sense as “blood” in verse 11. See Good News Translation for a model translation.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Proverbs 11:6

The sense of this saying is very similar to that in verse 3.

“The righteousness of the upright delivers them”: “The righteousness of the upright” is equivalent in form and sense to the subject in the first line of verse 5. “Delivers” has here the sense of “rescue,” “save,” or “protect from”; see the second line of verse 4. If it is not natural in your language to use righteousness as the subject of a transitive verb, it may be necessary to say, for example, “The person who is upright is rescued because he is honest” or “God rescues the upright people because they are good.”

“But the treacherous are taken captive by their lust”: This line is difficult to interpret. Literally it says “But in the hawah of the treacherous [they] are caught,” where hawah can mean “craving” or “desire” as in 10.3, or possibly “ruin” or “destruction.” Since the verb has no subject other than the pronoun “they,” it is hard to decide who “are taken captive”. Revised Standard Version has rendered hawah as “lust”. This leaves “the treacherous” as the ones who are caught, an interpretation supported by the Septuagint and the Vulgate, and the most likely suggestion in light of the contrast with “the upright” in the first line. Good News Translation, in which “the treacherous” are “those who can’t be trusted,” follows Revised Standard Version. Instead of “taken captive by their lusts”, Good News Translation has “trapped by their own greed.” New Revised Standard Version has revised Revised Standard Version to say “but the treacherous are taken captive by their schemes,” and Bible en français courant has “Dishonest people are caught in the trap of their own desires.”

These translations may serve as models for other languages. It may be necessary, however, to avoid the passive construction by saying, for example, “The desires of dishonest people trap them.” If the figurative language here is not natural, it may be possible to add a simile, for example, “The plans of dishonest people catch them just as a trap catches an animal.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .