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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Every one striking a soul by the mouth of witnesses, he shall slay the slayer: and one witness shall not testify against a soul to die.
At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses they shall be put to death; they shall not die by the mouth of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be at first upon him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterward. And put thou away the evil from the midst of thee.
If I spake to you earthly things, and ye believe not, how, if I speak to you heavenly things, will ye believe
But ye shall receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses to me also in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the last of the earth.
Having begun from the immersion of John, unto the day which he was taken up from us, be one of these a witness with you of his rising up.
This Jesus God raised up, of which all we are witnesses.
And having cast out of the city, they stoned: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.
Wherefore we also having such a cloud of witnesses lying round about us, having laid down every weight, and sin easily captivating, by patience we should run the race set before us,
And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the chief of the kings of the earth. To him having loved us, and washed us from our sins in his 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 soul shall sin, and he heard the voice of an oath, and he a witness, if he saw or knew; if he shall not announce, he bore his sin.
But killing, thou shalt kill him; thy hand shall be upon him for the first to put him to death, and the hand of all the people at last.
At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses they shall be put to death; they shall not die by the mouth of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be at first upon him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterward. And put thou away the evil from the midst of thee.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, and for any sin, in any sin which he shall sin; by the mouth of two witnesses or by the mouth of three witnesses the word shall be established. If a witness of wrong shall rise up against a man to testify apostasy against him; read more. And the two men to whom is the contention stood before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days; And the judges sought out diligently; and behold, a witness of falsehood, the witness of falsehood testified against his brother; And ye did to him as he purposed to do to his brother: and put away evil from the midst of thee And they remaining shall hear, and fear, and shall no more add to do according to this evil word in the midst of thee. And thine eye shall not pity; soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot
And having been morning, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus, to kill him:
And having cried with a great voice, they held fast their ears, and rushed unanimously upon him, And having cast out of the city, they stoned: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.
Hastings
This is the rendering of Heb. '
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Now come thou we will make a covenant, I and thou; and it was for witness between me and between thee.
If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives to my daughters, no man is with us, seeing God a witness between me and between thee.
Take the book of this law and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and it was there for a witness against thee.
And Joshua will say to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be to us for a testimony, for it heard all the sayings of Jehovah which he spake with us: and it was to you for a testimony lest ye shall lie to your God.
And Boaz will say to the old men and all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I bought all which was to Elimelech, and all which was to Chilion and Mahlon, from the hand of Naomi.
And he will say to them, Jehovah the witness against you, and his Messiah the witness this day that ye found nothing in my hand. And he will say, A witness.
Thou wilt lay fast hold on me to be for a testimony, and my leanness will rise up in me; it will answer against my face.
Also now, behold, my witness in the heavens, and my testimony in the heights.
He breathing out faithfulness will announce justice: and a witness of falsehoods, deceit
A witness of falsehoods shall not be unpunished, and he breathing out lies shall not escape. Many will wait for the face of the prince, and every one the friend to the man giving. read more. All the brethren of the poor hated him: how much more his friends removed far from him? pursuing words they are not He obtaining a heart loved his soul: he watched understanding to find good. A witness of falsehoods shall not be unpunished, and he breathing out lies shall perish.
A witness of lies shall perish: and a man hearing, shall speak clearly.
A mallet and a sword and an arrow sharpened, the man answering against his neighbor testimony of falsehood.
Because they did folly in Israel, and they will commit adultery with their neighbors' wives, and they will speak the word of a lie in my name, which I commanded them not; and I know, and a witness, says Jehovah.
And I shall write in a book, and seal and affirm witnesses, and weigh the silver in the balances.
And they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah will be with us for a witness of truth and faithful, if not according to all the words which Jehovah thy God will send thee to us, thus will we do.
And as many as receive you not, nor hear you, going out thence, shake off the heap of dust under your feet for testimony to them. Truly I say to you, It shall be more supportable for the Sodomites or Gomorrhites in the day of judgment, than that city.
And ye are witnesses of these things.
But ye shall receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses to me also in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the last of the earth.
This Jesus God raised up, of which all we are witnesses.
And ye killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead; of whom we are witnesses.
For my witness is God, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news of his Son, so that continually I make mention of you, always supplicating in my prayers;
If indeed ye remain in the faith, founded and firmly fixed, and not moved aside from the hope of the good news, which ye heard, being proclaimed in all creation under heaven; of which I Paul was a servant;
I beseech thee before God, making all things alive, and Christ Jesus, he having witnessed to Pontius Pilate the good confession;
Wherefore we also having such a cloud of witnesses lying round about us, having laid down every weight, and sin easily captivating, by patience we should run the race set before us,
And he made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him the glory and strength for the times of times.
And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; Thus says the 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 they shall be put to death; they shall not die by the mouth of one witness.
But if he hear thee not, take with thee yet one or two, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word might stand.
But Jesus was silent. And the chief priest having answered, said to him, I cause thee to swear by the living God, that thou tell us, if thou art Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus says to him, Thou hast said: but I say to you, from henceforth ye shall see the Son of man, sitting from the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
And Jesus stood before the leader: and the leader asked him, saying, Art thou King of the Jews? Jesus said to him, Thou sayest.
And seeing the freedom of speech of Peter and John, and comprehending that they are illiterate men, and private individuals, they wondered; and they knew them, that they were with Jesus.
And surely indeed he left not himself without witness, doing good, having given us rain from heaven, and fruitful times, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
Wherefore that known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested to them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world, being understood by things made, are inspected, truly both his eternal power and divinity; so that they are inexcusable:
And three are testifying in the earth,) the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three are for one. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater: for this is the testimony of God which he has testified concerning his Son. read more. He believing in the Son of God has the testimony in himself: he not believing God has made him a liar; for he has not believed the testimony which God has testified of his Son. And this is the testimony, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; Thus says the 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/juliasmith'>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 will say, For the seven ewe lambs thou shalt take from my hand, in order to be to me for a testimony that I dug this well.
And Laban will call it the heap of testimony, and Jacob called it the heap of witness.
A witness this heap, and a witness the pillar, if I will not pass over this heap to thee, and thou shalt not pass over to me, this heap and this pillar for evil.
Thou shalt not testify against thy friend for falsehood.
If tearing in pieces, it shall be torn in pieces, he shall bring it a witness; the torn in pieces he shall not recompense.
Thou shalt not take up a false report: thou shalt not put thy hand with the unjust one to be a witness of wrong.
The nakedness of thy brother's wife thou shalt not uncover: it is thy brother's nakedness.
And a wife to her sister thou shalt not take to press to uncover her nakedness with her, in her living.
And a man lay with her with emission of seed, and it was hid from the eyes of her husband, and it was covered, and she was defiled, and no witness against her, and she was not taken hold of.
Every one striking a soul by the mouth of witnesses, he shall slay the slayer: and one witness shall not testify against a soul to die.
Watch to thyself lest a word shall be with thy heart, of Belial, saying. The seventh year, the year of remission is drawing near; and thine eye be evil against thy needy brother and thou wilt not give to him; and he call against thee to Jehovah, and it was sin in thee.
At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses they shall be put to death; they shall not die by the mouth of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be at first upon him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterward. And put thou away the evil from the midst of thee.
When a man shall take a wife and he married her, and it was if she shall find not favor in his eyes because he found in her a nakedness of the word: and he wrote for her a writing of cutting off, and gave in her hand, and sent her away from his house.
And the last man hated her and wrote for her a writing of cutting off, and gave in her hand, and sent her away from his house; or if the last man shall die which took her to him for a wife,
And they will come to the circuits of Jordan, which are in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh will build there an altar upon Jordan, a great altar for seeing.
And we shall say, We will do now for ourselves to build an altar, not for burnt-offerings and not for sacrifice:
And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad will call to the altar: for it is a witness between us that Jehovah is their God.
And Joshua will write these words in the book of the law of God, and he will take a great stone and will set it up there under the oak which is in the holy place of Jehovah. And Joshua will say to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be to us for a testimony, for it heard all the sayings of Jehovah which he spake with us: and it was to you for a testimony lest ye shall lie to your God.
And I shall write in a book, and seal and affirm witnesses, and weigh the silver in the balances. And I will take the book of the purchase, being sealed, the command and laws, and being unrolled: read more. . And I shall give the writing of the purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, before the eyes of Hanamed mine uncle, and before the eyes of the witnesses, writing in the book of the purchase before the eves of all the Jews sitting in the enclosure of the prison. And I shall command Baruch before their eyes, saying, Thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, take these writings, this writing of the purchase, and the sealed, and this writing unrolled, and give them into an earthern vessel, so that they shall stand many days. For thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet be bought in this land. And I shall pray to Jehovah, after my giving the writing of the purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, saying,
And also in your law has it been written, that the testimony of two men is true.
And having cast out of the city, they stoned: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.
Against an elder receive not an accusation from without, except from two or three witnesses.