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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Whosoever slayeth, shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses. For one witness shall not answer against one person to put him to death.
At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death, die: but at the mouth of one witness he shall not die. And the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterward the hands of all the people: so shalt thou put wickedness away from thee.
If, when I tell you earthly things, ye believe not: How should ye believe if I shall tell you of heavenly things?
but ye shall receive power of the holy ghost which shall come on you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Jewry, and in Samaria, and even unto the world's end."
beginning at the baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from us - must one be ordained to bear witness with us of his resurrection."
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, named Saul.
Wherefore let us also - seeing that we are compassed with so great a multitude of witnesses - lay away all that presseth down, and the sin that hangeth on us, and let us run with patience, unto the battle that is set before us,
and from Jesus Christ which is a faithful witness, and first begotten of the dead: and Lord over the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in 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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When a soul hath sinned and heard the voice of cursing and is a witness: whether he hath seen or known of it, if he have not uttered it, he shall bear his sin.
Thine hand shall be first upon him to kill him; and then the hands of all the people.
At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death, die: but at the mouth of one witness he shall not die. And the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterward the hands of all the people: so shalt thou put wickedness away from thee.
One witness shall not rise against a man in any manner trespass or sin, whatsoever sin a man sinneth: But at the mouth of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall all matters be tried. If an unrighteous witness rise up against a man to accuse him of trespass: read more. then let both the men which strive together stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days, and let the judges enquire a good. And if the witness be found false and that he hath given false witness against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to do unto his brother, and so thou shalt put evil away from thee. And other shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such wickedness among you. And let thine eye have no compassion, but life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
when the morning was come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people held a counsel against Jesus, to put him to death,
Then they gave a shout with a loud voice, and stopped their ears and all ran upon him at once, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, named Saul.
Hastings
This is the rendering of Heb. '
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Now therefore, come on, let us make a bond, I and thou together, and let it be a witness between thee and me."
that thou shalt not vex my daughters neither shalt take other wives unto them. Here is no man with us: behold, God is witness betwixt thee and me."
"Take the book of this law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and let it be there for a witness unto thee.
And Joshua said unto all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake with us. It shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye lie unto your God."
Then said Boaz 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.
Then said he to them, "The LORD is witness unto you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have found nought in my hands." And they answered, "We are witnesses."
And that thou hast filled me with wrinkles, my flesh is witness; and my leanness riseth up against me and beareth witness thereof in my face.
For lo, my witness is in heaven, and he that knoweth me, is above in the height.
A just man will tell the truth, and show the thing that is right; but a false witness deceiveth.
A false witness shall not remain unpunished; and he that speaketh lies shall not escape. The multitude hangeth upon great men; and every man favoureth him that giveth rewards. read more. As for the poor, he is hated among all his brethren; yea, his own friends forsake him, and he that giveth credence unto words, getteth nothing. He that is wise loveth his own soul; and whoso hath understanding, shall prosper. A false witness shall not remain unpunished; and he that speaketh lies shall perish.
A false witness shall perish; but he that will be content to hear, shall always have power to speak himself.
Whoso beareth false witness against his neighbour, he is a very spear, a sword, and a sharp arrow.
Because they sinned shamefully in Israel. For they have not only defiled their neighbours' wives, but also preached lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them. This I testify, and assure, sayeth the LORD.
I caused him also to make me a writing, and to seal it, and called record thereby, and weighed him there the money upon the weights.
And they said to Jeremiah, "The LORD of truth and faithfulness be our record, that we will do all that the LORD thy God commandeth us;
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust that is under your feet, for a witness unto them. I say verily unto you, it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorra, at the day of judgment, than for that city."
And ye are witnesses of these things.
but ye shall receive power of the holy ghost which shall come on you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Jewry, and in Samaria, and even unto the world's end."
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
and killed the Lord of life whom God hath raised from death, of the which we are witnesses:
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit, in the Gospel of his son that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,
if ye continue grounded and established in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, whereof ye have heard, how that it is preached among all creatures, which are under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.
I give thee charge in the sight of God, which quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, which under Pontius Pilate witnessed a good witnessing,
Wherefore let us also - seeing that we are compassed with so great a multitude of witnesses - lay away all that presseth down, and the sin that hangeth on us, and let us run with patience, unto the battle that is set before us,
and made us kings and priests unto God his father, be glory, and dominion for evermore amen.
"And unto the messenger of the congregation which is in Laodicea write, 'This saith - amen - the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creatures 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 or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death, die: but at the mouth of one witness he shall not die.
But if he hear thee not, then take yet with thee one or two, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, all things may be established.
But Jesus held his peace. And the chief priest answered, and said to him, "I charge thee in the name of the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be Christ the son of God." Jesus said to him, "Thou hast said. Nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the righthand of power, and come in the clouds of the sky."
Jesus stood before the deputy, and the deputy asked him, saying, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" Jesus said unto him, "Thou sayest."
When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and understood that they were unlearned men and lay people, they marveled: and they knew them, that they were with Jesus.
Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, in that he showed his benefits, in giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
Seeing what may be known of God, that same is manifest among them: For God did show it unto them. So that his invisible things, that is to say, his eternal power and godhead, are understood and seen by the works from the creation of the world. So that they are without excuse,
For there are three that bear record: the spirit, and water, and blood: and these three are one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, that God hath born of his son. read more. He that believeth in the son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God, maketh him a liar, because he doth not believe the witness that God hath testified of his son. And this is the witness: how that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his son.
"And unto the messenger of the congregation which is in Laodicea write, 'This saith - amen - the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creatures 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/mstc'>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 answered, "Seven lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well."
this heap be witness and also this mark, that I will not come over this heap to thee, and thou shalt not come over this heap and this mark, to do any harm.
"Thou shalt bear no false witness against thy neighbor.
If it be torn with wild beasts, then let him bring record of the tearing: and he shall not make it good.
Thou shalt not accept a vain tale, neither shalt put thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Thou shalt not unhele the privity of thy brother's wife, for that is thy brother's privity.
Thou shalt not take a wife and her sister thereto, to vex her that thou wouldest open her privities as long as she liveth.
so that another man lie with her, fleshly; and the thing be hid from the eyes of her husband and is not come to light that she is defiled - for there is no witness against her, inasmuch as she was not taken with the manner -
Whosoever slayeth, shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses. For one witness shall not answer against one person to put him to death.
And beware that there be not a point of Belial in thine heart, that thou wouldest say, 'The seventh year, the year of freedom is at hand,' and therefore it grieve thee to look on thy poor brother and givest him nought and he then cry unto the LORD against thee and it be sin unto thee.
At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death, die: but at the mouth of one witness he shall not die. And the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterward the hands of all the people: so shalt thou put wickedness away from thee.
When a man hath taken a wife and married her, if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath spied some uncleanness in her: Then let him write her a bill of divorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house.
and the second husband hate her and write her a letter of divorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house, or if the second man die which took her to wife;
And when they came unto the coasts of Jordan that lie in the land of Canaan: there the children of Ruben, the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, built an altar fast by Jordan, and that a great altar to see to.
And therefore we said, 'Let us cause an altar to be made, not for burnt offerings, nor sacrifices,
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed, because 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 took a great stone and pitched it on end in the said place, even under an oak that stood in the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said unto all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake with us. It shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye lie unto your God."
I caused him also to make me a writing, and to seal it, and called record thereby, and weighed him there the money upon the weights. So I took the evidence with the copy, when it was orderly sealed and read over, read more. and I gave the evidence unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hananel my cousin, and in the presence of the witnesses that be named in the evidence, and before all the Jews that were thereby in the court of the prison. I charged Baruch also before them, saying, 'The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, commandeth thee to take this sealed evidence with the copy, and to lay it in an earthen vessel, that it may long continue. For the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, hath determined that houses, fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.' "Now when I had delivered the evidence unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I besought the LORD, saying,
It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.
and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, named Saul.
Against an elder receive none accusation: but under two or three witnesses.