While the translators of the Septuagint
generally appear to have attempted consistency in their translation of Hebrew
terms, they were unable to accommodate the meaning of sedaqa by the
simple substitution of dikaiosyne in every case. Of particular interest
is the translation of sdq in the construct form (e.g., at Leviticus
19:36, Deuteronomy 25:15 and Ezekiel 45:10). Here the Hebrew clearly has the
sense of ‘accurate’—that is, in the case of Leviticus 19;36, the weights are ‘as
they are intended to be’—namely, accurate. The Septuagint, however, translates this
phrase as the ‘weights of righteousness’. This phrase could easily be
misunderstood as possessing developed cultic or religious overtones, when it clearly
denotes noting more than accurate weights. Similarly, the Septuagint’s ‘sacrifices
of righteousness’ (Deuteronomy 33:19; Psalms 4:6; 51.21) are essentially ‘correct
sacrifices—that is, those which are ‘in order’ under the cultic prescriptions
of the covenant, rather than sacrifices which are to be thought of as ethically
‘righteous’ in themselves. (Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of
the Christian Doctrine of Justification [4th ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2020], 19)
