A name of God
Jehovah Tsidkenu, the LORD Our Righteousness
Jehovah Tsidkenu means the LORD our righteousness. The prophet Jeremiah gave this name to a coming righteous King, a promise spoken to a nation whose own righteousness had failed. It reveals that the right standing we cannot achieve is a gift God supplies, His own righteousness becoming ours through the King He would send.
“In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”Jeremiah 23:6
What the name means
Jehovah Tsidkenu joins the covenant name of God with the Hebrew word tsedeq, meaning righteousness, justice, being right and doing right. The ending our binds it to a people, so the name means the LORD our righteousness. This is a startling claim. It says that righteousness is not first something we produce but something God is, and something He gives to those who could never earn it. The name was spoken over a nation whose sin had brought judgment, promising a King who would embody and share God's own rightness. Jehovah Tsidkenu reveals a God who does not merely demand righteousness from us but becomes it for us, granting right standing with Himself as a gift rather than a wage.
Where it appears
The name appears in Jeremiah's promise of a righteous Branch raised up to David, a King who would reign wisely and execute justice in the land. In days when Judah's kings had failed and exile loomed, God foretold a ruler under whom His people would be saved and dwell safely, and this King would be called the LORD our righteousness. The prophet, whose own name is sometimes woven into the royal names of the time, sets God's provided righteousness against the failed righteousness of the nation's leaders. The promise looks beyond Jeremiah's ruined generation to a coming One in whom God's justice and mercy would finally meet.
How you see it in Christ
Jesus is the righteous Branch of David that Jeremiah foresaw. He lived the perfect righteousness we owe and could not render, fulfilling all that the law required. Then at the cross a great exchange took place. Paul writes that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. So Christ takes our failure and gives us His flawless record, and by faith His righteousness is counted as ours. He becomes, in person, the LORD our righteousness. This is why the gospel is good news for those who know they fall short; the standing we could never win is freely credited to us in Jesus, the King who is our righteousness.
Questions people ask
What does it mean that the LORD is our righteousness?
It means the right standing with God that we cannot achieve is provided by God Himself. Rather than earning righteousness by our own record, we receive God's righteousness as a gift. Jeremiah promised this in a coming King, and the New Testament shows it fulfilled in Christ, whose perfect life and sacrificial death are credited to those who trust Him.
How is Jesus our righteousness?
Jesus lived the perfect obedience we owe and then bore our sin at the cross. Paul describes a great exchange: God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. By faith His flawless record is counted as ours, so our standing rests on His righteousness, not our performance.