G3141 — μαρτυρία (martyría)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G3141
Original: μαρτυρία
Transliteration: martyría
Pronunciation: mar-too-ree'-ah
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: μάρτυς (mártys, G3144) — a witness
Occurrences: 37 tokens in 33 unique NT verses across 9 books
First Occurrence: Mark 14:55 — "and the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Evidence given (judicially or generally); testimony, witness, record. From μάρτυς (a witness). Used for both formal court testimony and the broader act of declaration about what one has seen or knows.

Semantic Domains¶

Louw-Nida: - Domain: 33.020 — Witness, Testify - Broader domain: 33 — Communication - Other words in subdomain: μαρτυρέω (G3140), μαρτύριον (G3142), μάρτυς (G3144), ψευδομαρτυρέω (G5576), ψευδομαρτυρία (G5577), ἐπιμαρτυρέω (G1957), καταμαρτυρέω (G2649), συμμαρτυρέω (G4828)

UBS Semantic Domains: - [033] Communication

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
testimony	13	39%
witness	10	30%
record	7	21%
a witness	1	3%
for witness	1	3%
report	1	3%
their witness	1	3%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
John	14	1.6
Revelation	8	2.0
1 John	3	2.9
Mark	3	0.4
3 John	1	7.1
Titus	1	2.2
1 Timothy	1	0.9
Luke	1	0.1
Acts	1	0.1

Concentrated in Johannine literature (John + 1 John + 3 John = 18 of 33 verses; 55%). Revelation adds 8 more, giving the Johannine corpus 79% of all occurrences. Mark's 3 uses all come from the trial narrative (14:55–59). The word is rare in Paul (only 1 Tim and Titus) and essentially absent from the Synoptic tradition outside the passion narrative.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Legal / Judicial Testimony¶

Formal testimony in a court or quasi-legal setting; the validity and consistency of evidence.

Mark 14:55 — "the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none"
Mark 14:56 — "many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together"
Luke 22:71 — "What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth"
John 8:17 — "it is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true"

2. The Johannine Self-Testimony Debate¶

John's Gospel uses μαρτυρία to explore the legitimacy of self-testimony vs. external corroboration.

John 5:31–32 — "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me"
John 8:13–14 — "Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came"
John 5:36 — "I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me"

3. Apostolic and Divine Witness¶

The testimony of eyewitnesses and the testimony of God himself — grounding belief in reliable declaration.

John 19:35 — "he that saw it bare record, and his record is true… that ye might believe"
John 21:24 — "this is the disciple which testifieth of these things… we know that his testimony is true"
1 John 5:9–10 — "if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son"
1 John 5:11 — "this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son"

4. Testimony of Jesus Christ in Revelation¶

In Revelation μαρτυρία shifts to a quasi-technical phrase — "the testimony of Jesus" — marking those who hold Christ's testimony as the defining characteristic of the faithful.

Rev 1:2 — "who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ"
Rev 6:9 — "souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held"
Rev 12:11 — "they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony"
Rev 19:10 — "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy"

5. Character Reference / Community Report¶

Reputation or report about a person's moral standing, attested by others.

1 Tim 3:7 — "moreover he must have a good report of them which are without"
Tit 1:13 — "this witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply"
3 John 1:12 — "Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
μαρτυρέω (martyréō)	G3140	14x (42%)	verb + noun cognate pair: "bear witness… his testimony"
ἀληθής (alēthḗs)	G227	10x (30%)	"his testimony / record is true" (validity assertion)
θεός (theós)	G2316	10x (30%)	"testimony of God / God is true"
ὁράω (horáō)	G3708	8x (24%)	"what he has seen… bear record" (eyewitness basis)
ἔχω (ĕchō)	G2192	7x (21%)	"hath the witness in himself / receive testimony"
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs)	G2424	7x (21%)	"testimony of Jesus Christ"
λαμβάνω (lambánō)	G2983	6x (18%)	"receive / accept the testimony"
λόγος (lógos)	G3056	5x (15%)	"word of God and the testimony" (Rev pairing)

Word Family / Cognates¶

G3144 μάρτυς (mártys) — the witness-bearer (person); 34 verses; root noun
G3140 μαρτυρέω (martyréō) — verb "to bear witness, testify"; 75 verses
G3142 μαρτύριον (martýrion) — neuter noun "testimony, evidence; tabernacle of testimony"; 20 verses
G5576 ψευδομαρτυρέω (pseudomartyréō) — verb "to bear false witness"; 6 verses
G5577 ψευδομαρτυρία (pseudomartyría) — noun "false witness"; 2 verses

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G3141.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G3141.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
μαρτύριον (martýrion)	G3142	both → "testimony"	μαρτύριον = the tangible evidence/thing testified, or the "tabernacle of testimony"; μαρτυρία = the act/process of bearing witness
μάρτυς (mártys)	G3144	both → "witness"	μάρτυς = the person (witness-bearer); μαρτυρία = the testimony they give
μαρτυρέω (martyréō)	G3140	both → "witness"	μαρτυρέω = the verb (to testify); μαρτυρία = the noun (the testimony)

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 033020)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Key Distinction
G3144	μάρτυς (mártys)	34	the person who witnesses
G3140	μαρτυρέω (martyréō)	75	the verbal act of witnessing
G3142	μαρτύριον (martýrion)	20	the tangible testimony / evidence
G5576	ψευδομαρτυρέω	6	to bear false witness
G2649	καταμαρτυρέω	3	to testify against someone
G4828	συμμαρτυρέω	3	to co-witness, corroborate

Hebrew Source (via LXX)¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI Score	Notes
עֵד (ʻêd)	H5707	3	7.56	"witness, testimony" — primary semantic parallel
שֶׁקֶר (sheqer)	H8267	3	6.75	falsehood/lie — appears in false-witness contexts

The LXX bridge is weak (co-occ=3), reflecting that μαρτυρία is a distinctly NT word whose usage was shaped more by Greek legal vocabulary and Johannine theology than by translating a single Hebrew source term.