Reference: Witnesses
Fausets
Two at least were required to establish any charge (Nu 35:30; De 17:6; 19:15; Heb 10:28). So in the Christian church (1Ti 5:19). Written evidence in the case of divorce, not as among the Bedouins and Mussulmen a mere spoken sentence (De 24:1,3). Also in civil contracts (Isa 8:16; Jer 32:10-16). The witnesses were the first to execute sentence (De 13:9; Ac 7:58). False witness was punished with the same penalty as the offence witnessed to. Withholding witness was penal (Le 5:1). The term martyr, "witness," came to mean in Christian times one who attests the truth by suffering (Ac 22:20; Re 2:13; compare Re 1:9; 6:9; 11:3; 20:4; Hebrew 11; Heb 12:1).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
'Now if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt.
'If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
"But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
"On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
"A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.
"When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,
and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife,
"I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. "Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy; read more. and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. "And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time." 'For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land."' "After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, then I prayed to the LORD, saying,
When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
'And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.'
Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses.
Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
'I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;
"And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."
Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.