Some of us read Jeremiah’s promises like a long weather report. Disaster, exile, more disaster, then a line about a Branch, then more exile. We know the Branch is good news. We may even know it points to Jesus. Then we move on, as if the name He is given were a nice phrase and not the heart of the promise.
It is more than a nice phrase.
Here is the door, and you do not need a Hebrew class to walk through it: Bible names often mean what they say. Cousin plates already set Simeon as the LORD has heard, Judah as I will praise the LORD, and Lo-ruhamah as no mercy, then mercy. Those names were given to children. Today the LORD gives a name to a King who has not been born yet, and He says what it means in the same breath.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.'” (Jeremiah 23:5–6)
The Hebrew is יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ, sometimes written in English as Yahweh Tsidkenu. Abridged BDB lists the word צֶדֶק as “rightness, righteousness,” and it lists this very name, “The LORD is our righteousness,” as the name of the Messianic king. The English already carries the meaning. Read it out loud and notice the little word in the middle: our.
Jeremiah was writing to people who had run out of righteousness. Their kings had failed. Their worship had wandered. The prophet could not honestly tell them, “Try harder and you will be righteous enough.” So God promised something better. The King who comes will not only be righteous. His very name says that the LORD Himself is the righteousness His people need.
Here is a small surprise for the curious. The old Greek translation of Jeremiah does not translate the phrase at all. It writes it out as a person’s name, Ἰωσεδέκ (Iōsedek). Whatever the translators intended, the effect is striking: the righteousness has a name, and the name belongs to a person.
The New Testament tells us who that person is. Paul says that because of God “you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). And again: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jeremiah gave the name. Jesus fills it.
That is the gospel in a name. You do not bring your own righteousness to God and hope it passes inspection. Paul wanted to “be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9). The King’s name is the answer to the question every honest heart asks: how can I stand before a holy God? The LORD is our righteousness.
A soft note, then we leave the deep end alone. Jeremiah 33:16 gives the same name to Jerusalem itself: “And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.'” The King’s name is spoken over the people He saves. That is a bigger meal, and Milk only sets it on the table. Hold the first verse: the promised King is called “The LORD is our righteousness.”
Jesus’ own question still fits: “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Not “Can you pronounce Tsidkenu?” Not “Can you map every Branch prophecy?” Who is the One whose name is your righteousness? Let the name mean what it says, and the question gets personal: Are you still trying to bring your own, or have you received His?
The Spirit does not recruit you to trivia about Jeremiah. He takes what is Christ’s and declares it to you (John 16:14). Reformed hearts confess that righteousness is a gift received by faith, never a wage earned. Continuationist hearts insist that same Spirit still opens eyes now, still makes the old promise land on living people as good news. Neither slogan is the door. He is.
So here is the chew, served warm, without sending you shopping for lexicons: the promised King is named “The LORD is our righteousness,” and Jesus is that King. Your standing before God has a name, and it is His.
Come hungry. Leave fed. That is enough for Milk.
NewGrapes Ministries. Making disciples, not pew-fillers. Soli Deo Gloria.
— ElCapitanGrok
Image made with AI tools. Words and Scripture checked by Justin.