noun · masculine
marturos
Strong’sG3144
a witness
stem martur-35 times in the New Testamentin 13 of 27 books7 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
μάρτυς means a witness 4 — someone who testifies to a fact, either in an ordinary sense or, especially, in a legal or formal setting where testimony is given about something witnessed 13. It can describe someone who has personally seen or experienced what they testify about, taking a genitive of the thing witnessed to or the person on whose behalf they testify 1, and is used of God and of Christ as witness 1. Figuratively it can also be used of testimony given in a broader, non-literal way 2.
The word also came to mean martyr, a witness who testified for Christ specifically by dying for that testimony 13. This sense reflects a later Christian development of the word's ordinary meaning of "witness" 12.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
μάρτυς
(Æolic μάρτυρ), -υρος, ὁ (also ἡ), [in LXX for עֵד;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3144 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidmar'-toos
a witness (literally (judicially) or figuratively (genitive case)); by analogy, a "martyr"
Fromof uncertain affinity;
King Jamesmartyr, record, witness.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
Cretan dialect, Epid. μαῖτυς Refs, Cretan dialect also μαίτυρς Refs see ii; genitive μάρτῠρος, accusative -ῠρα Refs 8th c.BC+, formed from μάρτυρ (which see), except accusative μάρτῠν Refs 4th c.BC+; dative plural μάρτῠσι (but μάρτυρσι probably in Refs 6th c.BC+:—witness (not in Refs 8th c.BC+; μάρτυρας παρέχεσθαι produce witnesses, Refs 5th c.BC+; μάρτυρα παράγεσθαι, μάρτυρας ἐπάγεσθαι, Refs 5th c.BC+; τί δεῖται μάρτυρο; Refs
II martyr, NT
III Astrology texts, in aspect, μάρτυρες ἀλλήλων Refs 4th c.AD+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | marturos8×μάρτυς | marturois10×μάρτυρες |
| object accusative | marturon3×μάρτυρα | marturoin1×μάρτυρας |
| direct address vocative | marturor | marturoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | marturou1×μάρτυρός | marturoiu9×μαρτύρων |
| to, for dative | marturo | marturoi3×μάρτυσιν |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
marturo is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Words built on the same stem
Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
35 occurrences, every one of them listed
marturos“witness”subjectnominative singular8×
Acts 22:15hoti esi marturos auto pros pantoin anthrōpoin heiu horasē …You will be His witness to everyone of what you have …
Romans 1:9marturos gar mu atō tos theos, ho …… gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you
Philippians 1:8marturos gar mu tos theos, hōs epipothamō …God is my witness how I long for all of …
1 Thessalonians 2:5… oidavē, oute en profasia pleonexiau, theos marturos,… pretext for greed. God is our witness!
1 Peter 5:1… en vi parakalamō tos sumpresbuteros kai marturos teiu tou Christou pathēmeiu, tos kai …As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker …
Revelation 1:5kai apo Iēsu Christou, tos marturos tos pistos, tos prōtotokos toiu nekroiu …and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and …
Revelation 2:13… kai en tai hēmerai Antipos, tos marturos mu, tos pistos mu, hos apoktenita …… in the days of My faithful witness Antipas, who was killed among you …
Revelation 3:14… grafasar; Hōdeim legatō tos Amēn, tos marturos tos pistos kai alēthinos, tas archas …… the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation.
marturon“witness”objectaccusative singular3×
Acts 1:22… tau hēmerau hau analabita apo nu, marturon tau anastasiau autou sun ni genera …… one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
Acts 26:16… horima si, procheirizera sin hupēreton kai marturon heiu tē horasa min heiu tē …… as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from …
2 Corinthians 1:23Mis de marturon ton theon epikalomō epi tan ēman …I call God as my witness that it was in order to …
marturou“witness”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Acts 22:20… hote ekchote tem haimem Stefanou tou marturou su, kai autos ome epistēarēntos kai …And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was shed, I stood there …
marturois“witnesses”subjectnominative plural10×
Luke 11:48ara marturois avō kai suneudokavō tei ergei toiu …So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your …
Luke 24:48vis avō marturois houteiu.You are witnesses of these things.
Acts 1:8… pneumeu epi vin, kai evi mu marturois en tē Ierousalēm kai en panta …… you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea …
Acts 2:32… tos theos, hou pantois nis anō marturois.… life, to which we are all witnesses.
Acts 3:15… theos egerata ek nekroiu, hou nis marturois anō.… from the dead, and we are witnesses of this fact.
Acts 5:32kai nis anō marturois teiu rēmeiu houteiu, kai tem pneumem …We are witnesses of these things, and so is …
Acts 7:58… exō tau polau lithobolale. kai tois marturois apotithela teim himatieim autoiu para toin …… began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet …
Acts 10:39kai nis marturois panteiu heiu poiata en tē ta …We are witnesses of all that He did, both …
Acts 13:31… Galilaiau eis Ierousalēm, hotinois nun alō marturois autou pros ton laon.… to Jerusalem. They are now His witnesses to our people.
1 Thessalonians 2:10vis marturois kai tos theos, hōs hosiōs kai …You are witnesses, and so is God, of how …
marturoin“witnesses”objectaccusative plural1×
Acts 6:13stēala tē marturoin pseudēsoin legarōntoin; Tos anthrōpos houtos ouk …where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops …
marturoiu“witnesses”of, belonging togenitive plural9×
Matthew 18:16… ē duo, hina epi stomeu duo marturoiu ē treis stēiteia pantem rēmem;… the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
Matthew 26:65… legarōntos; Blasfēmata; tinem ēti chreian echanō marturoiu? ide nun akouava tan blasfēmian;… Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the …
Mark 14:63… autou legatō; Tinem ēti chreian echanō marturoiu?… Why do we need any more witnesses?
2 Corinthians 13:1… erchomō pros vin; epi stomeu duo marturoiu kai treis stēiti pantem rēmem.… the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
1 Timothy 5:19… ei mē epi duo ē treis marturoiu;… the testimony of two or three witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12… homologasa tan kalan homologian enōpion polloiu marturoiu.… made the good confession before many witnesses.
2 Timothy 2:2… heim akouasa para mu dia polloiu marturoiu, houteim paratithesar pistoi anthrōpoi, hotinois hikanois …… have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who …
Hebrews 12:1… nis, tosoutem echarōntois perikeiorōntem ni nefem marturoiu, onkon apotitherantois panton kai tan euperistatan …… by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance …
Revelation 17:6… hagioiu kai ek teu haimeu toiu marturoiu Iēsu. Kai thaumazama horarantos autan thaumem …… the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly …
marturoi“witnesses”to, fordative plural3×
Acts 10:41ouk panto to lao alla marturoi toi procheirotonorēntoi hupo tou theou, ni, …… all the people, but by the witnesses God had chosen beforehand, by us …
Hebrews 10:28… chōris oiktirmoiu epi duo ē treis marturoi apothnēskatō;… the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Revelation 11:3kai dōami toi duo marturoi mu, kai profēteuali hēmerain chilioi diakosioi …And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days …