Wikipedia's first sentence called it “important concept in the theology of judaism and christianity”. Today it says “quality or state of being morally right or justifiable”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Being morally correct and justifiable”. It now reads “State of being morally correct and justifiable”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Righteousness is the quality or state of "being morally right or justifiable" rooted in religious or divine law with a broader spectrum of moral correctness, justice , and virtuous living as dictated by a higher authority or set of spiritual beliefs. Rectitude, often a synonym for righteousness, is about personal moral values and the internal compass that guides an individual’s decisions and actions. It can be found in Indian , Chinese , and Abrahamic religions and traditions, among others, as a theological concept . It is an attribute that implies that a person's actions are justified, and can have the connotation that the person has been "judged" as living a moral life, relative to the religion’s doctrines. William Tyndale ( translator of the Bible into English in 1526) remodeled the word after an earlier word rihtwis , which would have yielded modern English * rightwise or * rightways . He used it to translate the Hebrew root צדק tzedek , which appears over five hundred times in the Hebrew Bible , and the Greek word δίκαιος ( dikaios ), which appears more than two hundred times in the New Testament . Etymologically, it comes from Old English rihtwīs , from riht 'right' + wīs 'manner, state, condition' (as opposed to wrangwīs , "wrongful" ). The change in the ending of the word in the 16th century was due to association with words such as bounteous. "rectitude vs. righteousness" . : CS1 maint: url-status ( link ) "Rectitude vs. Transactions of the Philological Society (6).
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1296437438.
The opening as it stood in 2005
Righteousness is an important concept in the theology of Judaism and Christianity .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 17888167.
The opening as it stood in 2010 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Righteousness (also called rectitude ) is an impor The English word righteous was coined by William Tyndale , who remodelled the word after an earlier word rihtwis , which would have yielded Modern English * rightwise or * rightways .He used it to translate the Hebrew root צדקים ( TzDYQ ), tzedek, which appears more than five hundred times in the Hebrew Bible , and the Greek word ( dikaios ), which appears more than two hundred times in the New Testament .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370634355.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Righteousness (also called rectitude ) is an theological concept in Hinduism , Christianity , Judaism and Islam .It is an attribute that implies that a person's actions are justified, and can have the connotation that the person has been "judged" or "reckoned" as leading a life that is pleasing to God.William Tyndale ( Bible translator into English in 1526) remodelled the word after an earlier word rihtwis , which would have yielded modern English * rightwise or * rightways . He used it to translate the Hebrew root צדקים ( TzDYQ ), tzedek , which appears more than five hundred times in the Hebrew Bible , and the Greek word δίκαιος ( dikaios ), which appears more than two hundred times in the New Testament .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668779440.
The opening as it stood in 2020 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Being morally correct and justifiable Righteousness is the quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable.It can be considered synonymous with "rightness" or being "upright".It can be found in Indian religions and Abrahamic traditions as a theological concept .It is also found in Tamil literature in the name of அறம் ( aram ).In Tamil literature there is separate section called அற நூல்கள் ("righteous books"), for example Thirukkural , Nālaṭiyār and many more books.Tirukkural dedicates chapters 1–38 of the Book of Aram for righteousness.A poem in Purananuru written by Kaniyan Pungundranar , it showcases the practice of righteousness leads to world peace and harmony in society. William Tyndale ( Bible translator into English in 1526) remodelled the word after an earlier word rihtwis , which would have yielded modern English * rightwise or * rightways .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 956905441.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
State of being morally correct and justifiable Righteousness is the quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable. It can be considered synonymous with "rightness" or being "upright" or to-the-light and visible.It can be found in Indian , Chinese and Abrahamic religions and traditions, among others, as a theological concept .William Tyndale ( translator of the Bible into English in 1526) remodelled the word after an earlier word rihtwis , which would have yielded modern English * rightwise or * rightways .He used it to translate the Hebrew root צדק tzedek , which appears over five hundred times in the Hebrew Bible , and the Greek word δίκαιος ( dikaios ), which appears more than two hundred times in the New Testament .Etymologically, it comes from Old English rihtwīs , from riht 'right' + wīs 'manner, state, condition' (as opposed to wrangwīs , "wrongful" ).The change in the ending in the 16th century was due to association with words such as bounteous.Transactions of the Philological Society (6).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178010897.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “important concept in the theology of judaism and christianity”. Today it says “quality or state of being morally right or justifiable”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Being morally correct and justifiable”. It now reads “State of being morally correct and justifiable”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
important concept in the theology of judaism and christianity
Now
quality or state of being morally right or justifiable
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
