Reference: Witness
American
One who testifies to any fact from his own personal knowledge. Under the Mosaic law, two witnesses under oath were necessary to convict a person charged with a capital crime, Nu 35:30; and if the criminal was stoned, the witnesses were bound to cast the first stones, De 17:6-7; Ac 7:58. The Greek word for witness is MARTYR, which see. The apostles were witnesses, in proclaiming to the world the facts of the gospel, Ac 1:8,22; 2:32; 2Pe 1:12,16-18; and Christ is a "faithful witness," in testifying to men of heavenly things, Joh 3:12; Re 1:5. The heroes of the ancient church are "witnesses" to the power of true faith, Heb 12:1.
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Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.
At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
If I have told you earthly things and ye do not believe, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
But ye shall receive the virtue of the Holy Spirit which shall come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that he was received on high from among us, that one must be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
This Jesus God has raised up, of whom we all are witnesses.
and casting him out of the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, leaving behind all the weight of the sin which surrounds us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
and from Jesus, the Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood
Easton
More than one witness was required in criminal cases (De 17:6; 19:15). They were the first to execute the sentence on the condemned (De 13:9; 17:7; 1Ki 21:13; Mt 27:1; Ac 7:57-58). False witnesses were liable to punishment (De 19:16-21). It was also an offence to refuse to bear witness (Le 5:1).
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And when a person commits sin, because they were called to testify under oath, and he was a witness that has seen or known of it, if he does not declare it, then he shall bear his iniquity.
but thou must kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterwards the hand of all the people.
At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
One witness shall not be valid against a man for any iniquity or for any sin, in any sin which he should commit. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. When a false witness rises up against any man to testify rebellion against him, read more. then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, who shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and, behold, if the witness is a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother; so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those who remain shall hear and fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
When the morning was come, all the princes of the priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death,
And crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord; and casting him out of the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Hastings
This is the rendering of Heb. '
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Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee.
If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and thee.
Take this book of the law and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God that it may be there for a witness against thee.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke unto us: it shall be, therefore, a witness unto you lest ye deny your God.
And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi.
And he said unto them, The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day that ye have not found anything in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.
And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me bears witness to my face.
Certainly my witness is even now in the heavens, and my record is on high.
He that speaks truth shows forth righteousness, but a false witness, deceit.
A false witness shall not go unpunished, and he that speaks lies shall not escape. Many will intreat the favour of the prince, but every man is a friend to him that gives. read more. All the brethren of the poor hate him; how much more shall his friends separate themselves from him? He shall seek their friendship and not find it. He that gets wisdom loves his own soul; he keeps intelligence that he might find that which is good. The false witness shall not go unpunished, and he that speaks lies shall perish.
The false witness shall perish, but the man that hears shall stand fast in his word.
A man that bears false witness against his neighbour is a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow.
because they have committed villainy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken a word falsely in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know and am a witness, saith the LORD.
And I subscribed the evidence and sealed it and took witnesses and weighed him the money in the balances.
Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you, when ye depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet in testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city.
And ye are witnesses of these things.
But ye shall receive the virtue of the Holy Spirit which shall come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
This Jesus God has raised up, of whom we all are witnesses.
and killed the Author of life, whom God has raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I always remember you in my prayers,
if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard and which is preached to every creature which is under heaven, of which I Paul am made a minister,
I give thee charge in the sight of God, who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus, who testified before Pontius Pilate a good profession;
Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, leaving behind all the weight of the sin which surrounds us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
And unto the angel of the congregation of the Laodiceans write; Behold, he who saith, Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:
Morish
The testimony or evidence adduced or given in confirmation of an assertion, and so often used judicially. The term also sometimes speaks simply of an expression of mind or feeling. Until God intervenes in power to establish His own purpose in regard to this world, He maintains a testimony to that which He will assuredly accomplish.
The words ????????, ????????, and ????????? are translated both 'testimony' and 'witness.' The idea runs all through the scriptures in respect both to God Himself and to His people. Paul declared before the heathen at Lystra that God 'had not left himself without witness' as to His existence and His goodness, in giving rain and fruitful seasons, filling their 'hearts with food and gladness,' Ac 14:17. The invisible things of God are testified of, "being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, or divinity." Ro 1:19-20.
God having for fifteen hundred years manifested His patience towards the guilty antediluvian world, He, after warning the people by the preaching of Noah, bore witness to His righteousness and His power by the deluge, and at the same time manifested His grace in saving Noah and his family in the ark.
The witness which God vouchsafed of Himself to Abraham was that He was 'THE ALMIGHTY GOD'; to Moses it was 'I AM THAT I AM'; and to Israel, 'JEHOVAH.' The ark was often called the "Ark of the testimony," and the tabernacle was the "Tent of witness," the witness of good things to come. To Nebuchadnezzar God was witnessed to as the 'GOD OF HEAVEN.' To the Christian He is 'GOD AND FATHER.'
Israel were of old God's witnesses, and will also be in the future.
When Christ was on earth He bore witness to God as LOVE and LIGHT. The Lord Jesus is declared to be "the faithful and true witness," Re 3:14; and His works and His words were witnesses that He had come from God. The Father also bore witness to Him as His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased. The Lord Jesus confessed before the Jewish council that He was the Son of God, and before Pilate that He was the King of the Jews. Mt 26:63-64; 27:11.
Peter and John were witnesses of the truth before the council, so that they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Ac 4:13. Stephen also was a true witness, and his testimony led to his becoming a martyr (??????). In Heb. 11 is given a 'great cloud' of witnesses to the principle of faith in Old Testament saints, some of whom were also martyrs. God will to the last have a testimony on earth as seen in His 'two witnesses' of Rev. 11.
In Christianity there are said to be three witnesses
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At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said it; nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.
And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.
Nevertheless he did not leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
because that which is known of God is manifest to them; for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him, his eternal power and divinity, are clearly understood by the creation of the world and by the things that are made so that there is no excuse;
And there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son. read more. He that believes in the Son of God has the witness of God in himself; he that does not believe God has made God a liar; because he does not believe the witness that God has testified of his Son. And this is the witness, that God has given eternal life to us, and this life is in his Son.
And unto the angel of the congregation of the Laodiceans write; Behold, he who saith, Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:
Smith
Witness.
Among people with whom writing is not common the evidence of a transaction is given by some tangible memorial or significant ceremony: Abraham gave seven ewe-lambs to Abimelech as an evidence of his property in the well of Beersheba. Jacob raised a heap of stones, "the heap of witness." as a boundary-mark between himself and Laban.
The tribes of Reuben and Gad raised an "altar" as a witness to the covenant between themselves and the rest of the nation. Joshua set up a stone as an evidence of the allegiance promised by Israel to God.
But written evidence was by no means unknown to the Jews. Divorce was to be proved by a written document.
De 24:1,3
In civil contracts, at least in later times documentary evidence was required and carefully preserved.
On the whole the law was very careful to provide and enforce evidence for all its infractions and all transactions bearing on them. Among special provisions with respect to evidence are the following:
1. Two witnesses at least are required to establish any charge.
Nu 35:30; De 17:6; Joh 8:17; 2Co 13:1
comp. 1Tim 5:19
2. In the case of the suspected wife, evidence besides the husband's was desired.
3. The witness who withheld the truth was censured.
4. False witness was punished with the penalty due to the offence which it sought to establish.
5. Slanderous reports and officious witness are discouraged.
Ex 20:16; 23:1; 18/16/type/j2000'>Le 18:16,18
etc.
6. The witnesses were the first executioners.
De 15:9; 17:7; Ac 7:58
7. In case of an animal left in charge and torn by wild beasts, the keeper was to bring the carcass in proof of the fact and disproof of his own criminality.
8. According to Josephus, women and slaves were not admitted to bear testimony. In the New Testament the original notion of a witness is exhibited in the special form of one who attests his belief in the gospel by personal suffering. Hence it is that the use of the ecclesiastical term ("martyr." the Greek word for "witness," has arisen.
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And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand that they may be a witness unto me that I have dug this well.
let this heap be witness and this pillar be witness that I will not pass over this heap against thee and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar against me, for harm.
Thou shalt not give false testimony against thy neighbour.
If it is torn in pieces, then let him bring witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.
Thou shalt not admit a false rumour; put not thine hand with the wicked to be a false witness.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife; it is thy brother's nakedness.
Neither shalt thou take a woman together with her sister, to make her a rival, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her lifetime.
and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hid from the eyes of her husband because she contaminated herself in secret, and there is no witness against her, neither was she taken in the act;
Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.
Keep thyself that there not be a thought of Belial in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother to give him nothing; for he shall cry unto the LORD against thee, and it shall be a sin unto thee.
At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
When a man has taken a wife and married her, and it comes to pass that she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her; then let him write her a bill of divorce and give it in her hand and send her out of his house.
And if the latter husband hates her and writes her a bill of divorce and gives it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies,
And when they came unto the borders of the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there next to the Jordan, a great altar to look upon.
Therefore we said, Let us now work to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice,
And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Ed; for it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.
And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and taking a great stone, he set it up there under an oak that was in the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke unto us: it shall be, therefore, a witness unto you lest ye deny your God.
And I subscribed the evidence and sealed it and took witnesses and weighed him the money in the balances. So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open. read more. And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel my uncle's son and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase before all the Jews that were in the court of the guard. And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel, said: Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both that which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days. For thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be bought and sold again in this land. Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the LORD, saying,
It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.
and casting him out of the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Against an elder do not receive an accusation, unless there are two or three witnesses.