μάρτυς
witness
‘witness’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one.
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where G3144 appears in the Book of Luke — 2 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
Luke
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
μαρτυς — transliterated mártys — is a Greek noun carrying the sense “witness.” It first appears in Matthew 18:16. The Greek New Testament uses it across 35 verses — moderately common. More than a third of its appearances fall in Acts. Its lexical range runs to 3 senses. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G3144 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 35
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 35 distinct verses.
- 13 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 13 of 27 New Testament books.
- #419
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Greek words (rank 419 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 35 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Acts 13 verses 37%
- Revelation 5 verses 14%
- Matthew 2 verses 6%
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 35 distinct verses.
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 15 verses · 43%
- Pauline corpus 9 verses · 26%
- Gospels 5 verses · 14%
- Johannine 5 verses · 14%
- Revelation 5 verses · 14%
- Hebrews 2 verses · 6%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 1 verse · 3%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Witnesses 20×, Witness 6×, Martyr 2×
- American Standard Version: Witnesses 19×, Witness 11×, Are witnesses 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Witnesses 23×, Witness 12×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Witnesses 20×, Witness 11×, Are witnesses 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G3144 across 34 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G3144 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G3144 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G3144 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 3 senses Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- in a legal sense
- an historical sense
- in an ethical sense
Word origin
Origin: of uncertain affinity
Of uncertain affinity; a witness (literally [judicially] or figuratively [generally]); by analogy a martyr : - martyr record witness.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 9 distinct written forms G3144 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| μαρτύρων martýrōn | Noun, Genitive, Plural, Masculine | Matthew 18:16 | 9 |
| μάρτυρες mártyres | Noun, Nominative, Plural, Masculine | Luke 24:48 | 8 |
| μάρτυς mártys | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Masculine | Acts 22:15 | 8 |
| μάρτυρα mártyra | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Masculine | Acts 1:22 | 3 |
| μάρτυρές mártyrés | Noun, Nominative, Plural, Masculine | Luke 11:48 | 2 |
| μάρτυσιν mártysin | Noun, Dative, Plural, Masculine | Acts 10:41 | 2 |
| μάρτυρας mártyras | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Masculine | Acts 6:13 | 1 |
| μάρτυρός mártyrós | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Masculine | Acts 22:20 | 1 |
| μάρτυσίν mártysín | Noun, Dative, Plural, Masculine | Revelation 11:3 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G3144, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- μαρτυρεω martyréō G3140 to testify
- μαρτυρια martyría G3141 testimony
- μαρτυριον martýrion G3142 testimony
- μαρτυρομαι martýromai G3143 to call to witness
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word μαρτυς appears 55 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 45 verses in 15 books.
- 55
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 45
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 15 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 15 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 31:44 μάρτυς
- Exodus 23:1 μάρτυς
- Leviticus 5:1 μάρτυς
- Numbers 5:13 μάρτυς
- Deuteronomy 17:6 μάρτυς
- Joshua 24:22 μάρτυς
- Ruth 4:9 μάρτυς
- 1 Samuel 12:5 μάρτυς
- 1 Kings 17:20 μάρτυς
- Job 16:19 μάρτυς
- Psalms 26:12 μάρτυς
- Proverbs 6:19 μάρτυς
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G3144) appears in the Greek Septuagint. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 31:44 μάρτυς Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you."
- Genesis 31:47 μάρτυς Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
- Exodus 23:1 μάρτυς "You shall not spread a false report. Don't join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
- Leviticus 5:1 μάρτυς "'If anyone sins, in that he hears the voice of adjuration, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he doesn't report it, then he shall bear his iniquity.
- Numbers 5:13 μάρτυς and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and is kept close, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she isn't taken in the act;
- Numbers 23:18 μάρτυς He took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; Listen to me, you son of Zippor:
- Numbers 35:30 μάρτυς Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die.
- Deuteronomy 17:6 μάρτυς At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
- Deuteronomy 17:7 μάρτυς The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.
- Deuteronomy 19:15 μάρτυς One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.
- Deuteronomy 19:16 μάρτυς If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrong-doing,
- Deuteronomy 19:18 μάρτυς and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother;
- Joshua 24:22 μάρτυς Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen you Yahweh, to serve him. They said, We are witnesses.
- Ruth 4:9 μάρτυς Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, You 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.
- Ruth 4:10 μάρτυς Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place: you are witnesses this day.
- Ruth 4:11 μάρτυς All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel: and do you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
- 1 Samuel 12:5 μάρτυς He said to them, Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. They said, He is witness.
- 1 Samuel 12:6 μάρτυς Samuel said to the people, It is Yahweh who appointed Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
- 1 Samuel 20:23 μάρτυς As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.
- 1 Samuel 20:42 μάρτυς Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever. He arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
- 1 Kings 17:20 μάρτυς He cried to Yahweh, and said, Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?
- Job 16:19 μάρτυς Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high.
- Psalms 26:12 μάρτυς My foot stands in an even place. In the congregations I will bless Yahweh.
- Psalms 34:11 μάρτυς Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
- Psalms 88:38 μάρτυς
- Proverbs 6:19 μάρτυς A false witness who utters lies, And he who sows discord among brothers.
- Proverbs 12:17 μάρτυς He who is truthful testifies honestly, But a false witness lies.
- Proverbs 12:19 μάρτυς Truth's lips will be established forever, But a lying tongue is only momentary.
- Proverbs 14:5 μάρτυς A truthful witness will not lie, But a false witness pours out lies.
- Proverbs 14:25 μάρτυς A truthful witness saves souls, But a false witness is deceitful.
- Proverbs 19:5 μάρτυς A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who pours out lies shall not go free.
- Proverbs 19:9 μάρτυς A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who utters lies shall perish.
- Proverbs 21:28 μάρτυς A false witness will perish, And a man who listens speaks to eternity.
- Proverbs 24:28 μάρτυς Don't be a witness against your neighbor without cause. Don't deceive with your lips.
- Isaiah 8:2 μάρτυς and I will take to me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
- Isaiah 43:9 μάρτυς Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
- Isaiah 43:10 μάρτυς You are my witnesses, says Yahweh, and my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
- Isaiah 43:12 μάρτυς I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange [god] among you: therefore you are my witnesses, says Yahweh, and I am God.
- Isaiah 44:8 μάρτυς Don't fear, neither be afraid: haven't I declared to you of old, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don't know any Rock.
- Jeremiah 36:18 μάρτυς Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
- Jeremiah 39:10 μάρτυς But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
- Jeremiah 39:25 μάρτυς
- Jeremiah 39:44 μάρτυς
- Jeremiah 49:5 μάρτυς Behold, I will bring a fear on you, says the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, from all who are round about you; and you shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives.
- Malachi 3:5 μάρτυς I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Hosts.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G3144) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
