Word study
Witness
5 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: witness, witnesses, witnessed. 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 “witness” 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)
- עֵד êdwitnesstranslated this way 62 times of its 63 uses · Strong’s H5707Noun · Translated: witness 40, witnesses 19, witnessed 2, evidence 1Full study and all 56 verses →
Genesis 31:44 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.”
Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- עוּד ûdreturn, go about, repeat, do againtranslated this way 5 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H5749Verb · Translated: warned 5, testify 5, warn 3, admonished 3Full study and all 39 verses →
Deuteronomy 4:26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
Jeremiah 32:10 I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.
- עֵדָה êdâhtestimony, witnesstranslated this way 4 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H5713Noun · Translated: testimonies 17, witness 4, decrees 3, meaning of the decrees 1Full study and all 25 verses →
Genesis 21:30 He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”
Joshua 24:27 And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.”
- בֵּין bêninterval, space betweentranslated this way 2 times of its 296 uses · Strong’s H996Preposition · Translated: between 108, and 30, among 23, at 13Full study and all 230 verses →
1 Samuel 20:23 And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
1 Samuel 20:42 And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.
- רָאָה rââhseetranslated this way 2 times of its 1,266 uses · Strong’s H7200Verb · Translated: see 354, saw 285, seen 124, look 45Full study and all 1,181 verses →
Exodus 20:18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μάρτυς mártysa witnesstranslated this way 35 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s G3144Noun · Translated: witnesses 23, witness 12Full study and all 35 verses →
Matthew 18:16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
Mark 14:63 At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “Why do we need any more witnesses?
- ψευδομαρτυρέω pseudomartyréōI testify falselytranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G5576Verb · Translated: bear false witness 3, bore false witness 1, testified falsely 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Matthew 19:18 “Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness,
Mark 10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not cheat others, honor your father and mother.’”
- 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 →
Matthew 10:18 On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
Mark 13:9 So be on your guard. You will be delivered over to the councils and beaten in the synagogues. On My account you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.
- ψευδομάρτυρ pseudomártyra false witnesstranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5575Noun · Translated: false witnesses 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 26:60 But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward
1 Corinthians 15:15 In that case, we are also exposed as false witnesses about God. For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead, but He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.
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.
What the Bible says about witness: passages by topic →
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.