StrongerBible

diamarturomai

διαμαρτύρομαι

GreekG1263“testify, charge, ...”

Appears 15 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Luk 16:28Act 2:40Act 8:25Act 10:42Act 18:5Act 20:21Act 20:23Act 20:24Act 23:11Act 28:231Th 4:61Ti 5:212Ti 2:142Ti 4:1Heb 2:6
Compound of
diaδιάthrough/because of687G1223
martureōμαρτυρέωto testify77G3140
Word studydee-ah-mar-TOO-rom-aiverb

What diamarturomai means

to declare something with solemn, God-invoking weight: to testify to the truth, or to lay a serious charge on someone

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This word is a strengthened form of the ordinary verb for bearing witness (μαρτυρέω). The added prefix pushes it past simply reporting a fact to affirming it with full solemnity, the way a person speaks when God is called on as witness. Its force lies not in the content of the speech but in its seriousness.

That solemn weight points in two directions. When it is aimed at the truth, it means to testify or bear witness, and Luke makes it almost a technical word for the apostles' public witness to the gospel, the kingdom of God, and the risen Christ. When it is aimed at a person, the same solemnity becomes a charge or a warning, a command laid on someone before God, which is how Paul uses it when writing to Timothy.

The two uses are one act seen from two sides: a speaker staking everything on the gravity of what is said. Related words divide up work that English needs several words for. Another verb, μαρτύρομαι, also calls someone to witness, while παραγγέλλω carries the plain force of an order without the note of bearing witness.

Nuances

1ato testify solemnly; to bear witness to the truth, above all to the gospel and the risen Christ
TranslatabilityApproximate
Act 2:40Act 8:25Act 10:42Act 18:5Act 20:21Act 20:23Act 20:24Act 23:11Act 28:23Heb 2:6
1bto charge or warn solemnly; to lay a serious injunction on someone, as if before God
TranslatabilityApproximate
Luk 16:281Th 4:61Ti 5:212Ti 2:142Ti 4:1

What scholars say about diamarturomai

διαμαρτύρομαι intensifies μαρτύρομαι with the prefix δια-, yielding solemn, emphatic attestation. BDAG divides the New Testament usage into (1) making a solemn declaration of the truth of something (testify, bear witness), dominant in Acts of the apostolic witness to the gospel, the kingdom, and Christ as appointed judge; and (2) exhorting with authority, that is, solemnly charging or warning a person, characteristic of the Pastoral Epistles and 1 Thessalonians 4:6. Strathmann (TDNT 4) traces the classical sense of calling the gods to witness, whence the oath-like gravity, into the Septuagint, where the word renders the Hebrew hiphil of עוד for solemn warning and admonition (e.g. Deuteronomy 4:26; 8:19). In Luke-Acts it becomes a near-technical term for testifying to the resurrection and the gospel, distinguished from the simpler μαρτυρέω largely by its heightened solemnity rather than by a different lexical field.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. διαμαρτύρομαιlexicon
  • H. Strathmann, "μάρτυς κτλ.," TDNT 4:474-514lexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. διαμαρτύρομαιlexicon
  • J. Beutler, "μαρτυρέω κτλ.," EDNT 2:389-393lexicon

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of διαμαρτύρομαι

present middle-or-passive participle nominative m s

διαμαρτυρόμενος

Act 18:5, Act 20:21, Act 28:23, 2Ti 2:14

aorist middle indicative 3s

διεμαρτύρατο

Act 2:40, Heb 2:6

aorist middle infinitive

διαμαρτύρασθαι

Act 10:42, Act 20:24

present middle-or-passive indicative 1s

Διαμαρτύρομαι

1Ti 5:21, 2Ti 4:1

aorist middle indicative 1p

διεμαρτυράμεθα

1Th 4:6

aorist middle indicative 2s

διεμαρτύρω

Act 23:11

aorist middle participle nominative m p

διαμαρτυράμενοι

Act 8:25

present middle-or-passive indicative 3s

διαμαρτύρεταί

Act 20:23

present middle-or-passive subjunctive 3s

διαμαρτύρηται

Luk 16:28