A covenant is a two-way street. "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Mic 6:8). "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God" (Ge 6:9). "To do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice" (Prv 21:3). Sacrifice is acceptable to someone when he deems the loss of something okay when the end justifies the means since "every man's way is right in his own eyes" (:2). "Preserve justice and do righteousness" (Isa 56:1). "'Only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you'" (Ge 6:9). "'If a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness'" (Eze 18:5) he "'will surely live,' declares the Lord God" (:9). "'The righteous will live by his faith'" (Hab 2:4). David told Solomon, "'Keep the charge of the Lord your God . . . that you may succeed in all that you do'" (1Ki 2:3). Paul told them to "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness" (1Ti 6:11). "'I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice'" (Prv 8:20). "Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless'" (13:6). "Righteous lips are the delight of kings" (16:13). The key is to "present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification" (Ro 6:19). "'Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you'" (Mt 6:33). "'He who does the will of My Father who is in heaven'" (7:21) "'will enter the kingdom of heaven'" (:21). "'Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven'" (5:20). "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Gal 5:25).
On the other side of the coin, "'If only you paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river'" (Isa 48:18). "'They went far from Me and walked after emptiness'" (Jer 2:5). "The righteous God tries the hearts and minds" (Ps 7:9). "God is a righteous judge" (:11) and "upright are Your judgments" (119:137). There is "'the indictment of the Lord . . . because the Lord has a case against His people'" (Mic 6:2). "'Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds'" (Da 9:14). "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish" (Ps 1:6). The benefits are that "He restores my soul; [and] He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake" (23:3).