To testify
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G3140 is a verb for testifying, bearing witness, attesting something, or giving a favorable report. Its seventy-six governed forms include testimony about Jesus, God's works, Scripture, people, conduct, truth, and disputed claims.
Reader summary
Full entry for μαρτυρέω (G3140) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3140 is a verb for testifying, bearing witness, attesting something, or giving a favorable report. Its seventy-six governed forms include testimony about Jesus, God's works, Scripture, people, conduct, truth, and disputed claims.
The BSB source-word alignment has 76 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include testify (13), testified (6), testifies (3), can testify (2), I testify (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 23:31. Its strongest book concentrations include John (33), Acts (11), Hebrews (8), 1 John (6).
This entry includes 9 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G3140 is a verb for testifying, bearing witness, attesting something, or giving a favorable report. Its seventy-six governed forms include testimony about Jesus, God's works, Scripture, people, conduct, truth, and disputed claims. John contains the largest concentration, where John the Baptist, Jesus, the Father, works, Scripture, eyewitnesses, and others testify.
Elsewhere the Law and Prophets attest God's revealed righteousness, the prophets testify about forgiveness through Jesus, the Lord confirms the message of grace, and people receive favorable testimony or commendation. The verb therefore does not always mean apostolic eyewitness proclamation, courtroom speech, evangelism, or martyrdom. Its subject, object, grammar, and narrative evaluation determine who testifies, what is attested, and whether the testimony is favorable, disputed, true, or false.
Acts 1:8 uses the related person-noun G3144 for witnesses rather than this G3140 verb.
John supplies thirty-three of the governed verb's seventy-six forms; the remaining uses bring its full reach to seventy-two verses in fourteen books. Acts, Hebrews, the letters, and Revelation broaden G3140 from direct testimony to attestation, commendation, and favorable report.
He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe.
The witness-person and the act of testifying remain related but lexically distinct.
You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,
The testimony of Scripture serves Jesus' argument and cannot be detached from the hearers' refusal to come to Him.
The one who saw it has testified to this, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.
John ties the eyewitness act, the testimony-content, truth, and intended belief together.
All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”
Prophetic testimony supports Peter's proclamation of forgiveness through Jesus.
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.
The Law and Prophets function as attesting witnesses within Paul's argument about God's righteousness.
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
Two G3140 forms appear in favorable attestation about Abel and his gifts.
Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.
The verse combines favorable reputation, the truth's testimony, and the author's own attestation.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. To testify is to publicly affirm what one has directly witnessed or personally knows to be true.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 79 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseI witness, testify
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
How this verb appears across 75 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 76 lexical occurrence verses.
μαρτυρέω is built from this root:
King's mission defined by truth proclamation.
Foundation of apostolic authority.
Emphasizes eyewitness confirmation of Jesus’ death.John 19:31–42
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G3140 teaches that testimony is accountable speech. John places testimony about Jesus within a network of persons, works, Scripture, and eyewitness report, and it repeatedly distinguishes a claim from the reasons for receiving it as true. Other books use the same verb for prophetic attestation, favorable reputation, God's approval, and commendation. This breadth keeps the church from turning testimony into performance or private certainty.
Christians should speak truthfully about Christ and God's work, but they must not claim apostolic eyewitness status they do not possess, treat personal experience as self-validating, or manipulate hearers as though human skill creates faith. Faithful testimony can be bold and costly, yet the verb itself neither promises persuasive results nor requires suffering as proof of sincerity.
John.19.35
The governed verb uses forty-two surface forms and forty parsing patterns. Active and passive forms can describe giving testimony, being attested, or receiving a favorable report, so voice, syntax, and context are essential.