22 Bible Verses about Witnesses, Legal

If you mistreat my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters, [when] there is no man with us, see--God [is] a witness between me and you."

But you ask, "{For what reason}?" Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she [is] your marriage partner and {your wife by covenant}.

" 'When a person sins in that he hears [the] utterance of a curse and he [is] a witness or he sees or he knows, if he does not make [it] known, then he shall bear his guilt.

Being a partner with a thief is hating one's life; a curse he will hear, but not disclose.

{The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict} [with respect to] any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person committed; on the {evidence} of two witnesses or on the {evidence} of three witnesses {a charge shall be sustained}.

{On the evidence of} two or three witnesses {the person shall be put to death}. The person shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness.

"Now if your brother sins against you, go correct him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take with you in addition one or two [others], so that by {the testimony} of two or three witnesses every matter may be established.

This [is] the third [time] I am coming to you. {By the testimony} of two or three witnesses every word will be established.

" 'If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death {according to the testimony} of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person.

If [there] is found in one of your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you a man or a woman that does evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God to transgress his covenant and by going and serving other gods and [so] he bows down to them and to the sun or to the moon or to any [of] the host of heaven {which I have forbidden}, and it is reported to you or you hear [about it] and you enquire [about it] thoroughly and, indeed, [the] trustworthiness of the deed [has] been established, it {has occurred}, this detestable thing, in Israel,read more.
then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates; that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them with stones {to death}. {On the evidence of} two or three witnesses {the person shall be put to death}. The person shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness.

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on [the testimony of] two or three witnesses.

The hand of the witnesses shall be first against the person to kill the person, and afterward the hands [of] all the people, and [so] you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Bring the curser {outside the camp}, and all the hearers shall place their hands on his head, and the whole community shall stone him. And you shall speak to the {Israelites}, saying, '{Any man} when he curses his God shall bear his sin.read more.
And he who blasphemes Yahweh's name certainly shall be put to death; the whole community certainly shall stone him. As the alien, so the native shall be put to death at blaspheming his name.

"If your brother, the son of your mother or your son or your daughter {or your wife whom you embrace} or {your intimate friend} in secrecy {says}, 'Let us go and let us serve other gods!' [gods] that you and your ancestors have not known, from [among] the gods of the people who are around you, {those near you or those far from you}, from [one] end of the earth and up to the [other] end of the earth, you must not give in to him, and you shall not listen to him, and your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall not have compassion, and you shall not cover [up] for him.read more.
But you shall certainly kill him; your hand shall be first against him to kill him and next the hand of all [of] the people. And you shall stone him with stones and let him die, for he tried to seduce you from Yahweh your God, the [one] bringing you from [the] land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. And all [of] Israel shall hear, and they shall fear, and {they shall not continue to act} according to this evil thing in your midst.

But crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and rushed at him with one purpose. And [after they] had driven [him] out of the city, they began to stone [him], and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle, that [was] at Anathoth. And I weighed out to him the money, seventeen silver shekels. And I signed on the letter and sealed [it], and I called witnesses as witness, and I weighed out the money on a set of scales. Then I took the deed of the purchase, the sealed [copy containing] the commandments and the rules, together with the [one] that was open.read more.
And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, {in the presence of} Hanamel, [the son of] my uncle, and {in the presence of} the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, {in the presence of} the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites with respect to all [who were] entering the gate of his city, [and] said, "No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field and the cave which [is] in it, I [also] give it to you in the sight of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead." And Abraham bowed before the people of the land.read more.
And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "{If only you will hear me}--I give the price of the field. Take [it] from me that I may bury my dead there." And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him "My lord, hear me. A [piece of] land [worth] four hundred shekels of silver--what [is] that between me and you? Bury your dead." Then Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver {at the merchants' current rate}. So the field of Ephron which [was] in the Machpelah, which [was] near Mamre--the field and the cave which [was] in it, with all the trees that [were] in the field, which [were] within all its surrounding boundaries--{passed} to Abraham as a property in the presence of the Hittites, with respect to all [who were] entering the gate of his city.

And Boaz had gone up [to] the [city] gate and sat there. And look, the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken [was] passing by. And he said, "Come over here to sit, {friend}." And he came over and sat. And he took ten men from the elders of the city and said, "Sit here." And they sat. And he said to the redeemer, "Naomi, who returned from the countryside [of] Moab, is selling the tract of land which [was] for our brother Elimelech.read more.
And I thought {I would tell you} and say, '{Buy it in the presence of} those sitting and before the elders of my people,' if you want to redeem [it], redeem [it]. But if you do not want to redeem, tell me so that I may know, for there is no one except you to redeem [it], and I [am] after you." And he said, "I want to redeem [it]." And Boaz said, "On the day of your acquiring the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the dead [man], [in order] to raise up [for] the name of the dead his inheritance." And the redeemer said, "I am not able to redeem for myself, lest I ruin my inheritance. You redeem for yourself my kinsman-redemption, for I am not able to redeem [it]." (Now this {was the custom in former times} in Israel concerning the kinsman-redemption and transfer of property: to confirm the matter, a man removed his sandal and gave [it] to his fellow countryman. This [was] the manner of attesting in Israel.) So the redeemer said to Boaz, "Acquire [it] for yourself," and he removed his sandal. And Boaz said to the elders and all of the people, "You [are] witnesses today that I have acquired all that [was] for Elimelech and that [was] for Kilion and Mahlon from the hand of Naomi.

Yet you have said to me, Lord Yahweh, "Buy for yourself the field with the money, and call witnesses as witness," though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"

And Boaz said to the elders and all of the people, "You [are] witnesses today that I have acquired all that [was] for Elimelech and that [was] for Kilion and Mahlon from the hand of Naomi. And also Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I have acquired as a wife, to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance, so that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his relatives and from the gate of his [birth] place. You [are] witnesses today." And all of the people who [were] at the gate and the elders said, "[We are] witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman coming into your house as Rachel and as Leah, who {together} built the house of Israel. May you have strength in Ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem.

"Now if your brother sins against you, go correct him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take with you in addition one or two [others], so that by {the testimony} of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell [it] to the church. But if he refuses to listen to the church also, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Do not accept an accusation against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.