μάρτυς
martus
witness
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Greek word μάρτυς (martus) is defined as a "witness." This simple yet powerful term is found 35 times in the Bible, indicating its importance and prevalence in the text. As a witness, μάρτυς refers to someone who has firsthand knowledge or experience of an event, making them a credible source of information. In its range of usage, μάρτυς spans various contexts, including court proceedings, spiritual experiences, and historical events. It can refer to a person who provides testimony in a legal setting (Hebrews 10:28; 1 Timothy 6:13), or someone who has witnessed a miraculous event (Acts 4:33, 36). The significance of μάρτυς lies in its role as a guarantor of truth, providing a foundation for faith and trust. Overall, the concept of μάρτυς serves as a cornerstone in the biblical narrative, highlighting the importance of personal experience, testimony, and truth. Its repetition throughout the text underscores its significance, emphasizing the value of witnesses in various aspects of life.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
35 total occurrences across the text
But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Matthew 26:65Then the high priest tore his clothing, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy.
Mark 14:63The high priest tore his clothes, and said, “What further need have we of witnesses?
Luke 11:48So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs.
Luke 24:48You are witnesses of these things.
Acts 1:8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Acts 1:22beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
Acts 2:32This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.
Acts 3:15and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.
Acts 5:32We are his witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Acts 6:13and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.
Acts 7:58They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Acts 10:39We are witnesses of everything he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they also killed, hanging him on a tree.
Acts 10:41not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
Acts 13:31and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.
Acts 22:15For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.
Acts 22:20When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, consenting to his death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.’
Acts 26:16But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you;
Romans 1:9For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,
2 Corinthians 1:23But I call God for a witness to my soul, that I didn’t come to Corinth to spare you.
2 Corinthians 13:1This is the third time I am coming to you. “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
Philippians 1:8For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 2:5For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),
1 Thessalonians 2:10You are witnesses with God how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe.
1 Timothy 5:19Don’t receive an accusation against an elder, except at the word of two or three witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.
2 Timothy 2:2The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
Hebrews 10:28A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.
Hebrews 12:1Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
1 Peter 5:1Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed.
Revelation 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood—
Revelation 2:13“I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. You hold firmly to my name, and didn’t deny my faith in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
Revelation 3:14“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things:
Revelation 11:3I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Revelation 17:6I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.