Word study
Testify
3 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: testify, testified, testifies, testifying. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “testify” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- עָנָה ânâhanswer, respondtranslated this way 15 times of its 317 uses · Strong’s H6030Verb · Translated: answered 79, answer 75, replied 47, respond 14Full study and all 308 verses →
Genesis 30:33 So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.”
Exodus 23:2 You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
- עוּד ûdreturn, go about, repeat, do againtranslated this way 6 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H5749Verb · Translated: warned 5, testify 5, warn 3, admonished 3Full study and all 39 verses →
Deuteronomy 8:19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.
1 Kings 21:10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”
- נָגַד nâgadbe conspicuoustranslated this way 2 times of its 360 uses · Strong’s H5046Verb · Translated: tell 83, told 67, reported 31, declare 18Full study and all 339 verses →
Leviticus 5:1 “If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μαρτυρέω martyréōI witness, testifytranslated this way 53 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s G3140Verb · Translated: testify 26, testified 15, testifies 9, commended 4Full study and all 72 verses →
Matthew 23:31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
John 1:7 He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe.
- διαμαρτύρομαι diamartýromaiI give solemn evidence, testify solemnlytranslated this way 9 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G1263Verb · Translated: testified 4, testifying 4Full study and all 15 verses →
Acts 2:40 With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.”
Hebrews 2:6 But somewhere it is testified in these words: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
- μαρτύρομαι martýromaiI call to witness, testify, solemnly chargetranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G3143Verb · Translated: testify 3, insist 1, urging 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Acts 20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
Galatians 5:3 Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
- μαρτύριον martýrionwitness, evidence, testimonytranslated this way 3 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s G3142Noun · Translated: testimony 13, witnesses 2Full study and all 20 verses →
2 Corinthians 1:12 For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God — not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.
Hebrews 3:5 Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be spoken later.
- καταμαρτυρέω katamartyréōI give evidence againsttranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2649Verb · Translated: testifying 2, charges they are bringing 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 26:62 So the high priest stood up and asked Him, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?”
Mark 14:60 So the high priest stood up before them and questioned Jesus, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?”
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.