צָדַק tsâdaq — to be (causatively, make) right (in a moral or forensic sense)
Translated in the KJV as cleanse, clear self, (be, do) just(-ice, -ify, -ify self), righteous.
a primitive root; to be (causatively, make) right (in a moral or forensic sense).
tsâdaq in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Imperfect (yiqtol) 15Perfect (qatal) 6Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
Hiph'il
Participle (active) 4Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Infinitive construct 2Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1Perfect (qatal) 1Imperative 1
Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.
Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!
Pi'el
Infinitive construct 3Perfect (qatal) 1Wayyiqtol 1
Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.
If thou hast any thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.
And the Lord said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Hitpa'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found.
Niph'al
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
What the stems mean
A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›