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 1:17-18

Verse 17 is a single sentence saying and serves to introduce verse 18. The two verses are closely tied together as a contrast between birds that are not stupid and evildoers who are stupid. The opening word in Hebrew (“For” in Revised Standard Version) links these verses back to the warning in verse 15.

“In vain” translates an expression meaning “for no purpose,” “does no good,” “has no effect,” or “is useless.”

“Net is spread”: “Spread” renders a word that may mean spread out, or refer to the scattering of seed to bait a trap.

“In the sight” is literally “in the eyes of,” meaning “where the birds can see the trap.” “Any bird” is literally “possessor of wings”; it is a poetic expression like “winged creature” in English, and is used only here and in Eccl 10.20.

There are at least three ways to understand the meaning of verse 17 and the relation between verses 17 and 18. All are equally valid.

(1) Verse 17 can be understood to mean that birds won’t be caught in a trap they can see being set for them. And verse 18 means that evil people are setting their own trap and being caught in it. So the birds are wise and the sinners are blind and foolish.
(2) Even though the birds see the trap being baited for them, they pay no attention to the trap in order to get the bait (scattered seeds). The wicked in verse 18 are like the careless, hungry birds, so hungry for violence and wealth that they pay no attention to the trap they are setting for themselves.
(3) Verse 17 applies to the learner; that is, just as the bird avoids the trap it sees being set, so the learner will know how to avoid the dangers of life, and not be like the wicked people mentioned in verse 18.

Many modern versions favor the first understanding. For a model translation following this interpretation see Good News Translation. Another way of expressing this is: “Birds have the right thinking—if a bird sees a person setting a net, it won’t get caught.”

The Contemporary English Version footnote follows the third interpretation: “Be like a bird that won’t go for the bait, if it sees the trap.”

“But these men” refers to the wicked robbers described in verses 11-14 who tempt the learner to join them.

“Lie in wait” is the same expression as the one used in verse 11 where the wicked people lie in wait for other people’s blood. In verse 18 they prepare their own deaths.

There is a full parallelism in verse 18 in which the second line repeats the sense of the first line using other words. “Set an ambush” translates the same word used in verse 11. “For their own lives” translates “for their own souls [Hebrew nefesh]” meaning “for their own physical lives.”

Two ways in which we may render verse 18 are, for example:

  • People who rob others set the trap that will destroy them. They lay an ambush to take away their own lives.
  • Robbers are killed in their own traps. They are destroyed by their own ambushes.

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 11:8

This verse follows thoughts already expressed in verses 3, 5, and 6.

“The righteous is delivered from trouble”: “Is delivered” translates the passive form of a verb meaning to rescue or save. “Trouble” refers to distress, difficulties, or misfortune. Languages that cannot use a passive construction in this line may have to supply a subject, for example, “The Lord rescues the righteous from their troubles” or “The Lord gets the upright out of trouble.”

“And the wicked gets into it instead” is literally “and the wicked enters [in] his place.” This sounds as if the wicked is made to suffer in the place of the righteous. However, the sense of this line is that eventually the righteous is rescued while the wicked gets into trouble. Toy takes the sense of “instead” here as “reversal of positions.” 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 .