a witness: an object or act set up to testify to an agreement or a fact
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled
This is the feminine form of the ordinary word for a witness, and it names a thing rather than a person: a heap of stones, a standing pillar, a set of animals handed over, or a large stone. Each one is put in place so that later it can testify that a promise was made or a boundary agreed.
The idea is that the object itself will speak up. Joshua tells the people that the great stone he has set up has heard everything the LORD said, and that it will stand as a witness against them if they turn away. The witness is silent, yet its presence is a standing reminder that both sides know exactly what was agreed.
Gen 21:30Gen 31:52Jos 24:27 (2×)
2
the LORD's testimonies: the terms of his covenant, solemnly declared and meant to be kept
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong
In this sense the word is almost always plural and almost always God's: your testimonies, his testimonies. It belongs to the language of the covenant, standing next to God's commands, statutes, and rulings as another name for what he has laid down for his people to keep.
The weight of the word is that these are sworn declarations, not bare rules. They testify to who God is and to what he asks, and they call his people to prove loyal by keeping them. Psalm 119 comes back to them again and again as something to be loved, trusted, and held onto, treating the LORD's testimonies as completely dependable and worth a lifetime of attention.
means the fixed terms of God's covenant, his solemn declarations to be obeyedPsa 119:2Deu 4:45
Both
both involve a formal declaration meant to be relied onPsa 93:5
Only testimonies
in ordinary English testimony suggests courtroom evidence or a personal faith story, neither of which is in view
“decrees”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How edah differs from similar Hebrew words
עֵדוּתThe word for the covenant testimony kept at the heart of the sanctuary: the stone tablets, the ark that housed them, and the tent that sheltered them. It overlaps closely with the plural testimonies in this entry, though it points especially to that physical covenant document and its sacred housing rather than to the decrees in general.
the covenant tablets deposited in the ark, the Testimony itselfExo 25:16Exo 31:18
names the ark, the veil, and the tent by this deposited TestimonyExo 26:33Num 9:15
the solemn covenant document, sure and to be trusted2Ki 11:12Psa 19:7
עֵדThe everyday word for a witness, usually a person who testifies in a dispute or legal case, or God called on as witness. The concrete witness in this entry is its feminine form, used narrowly of silent objects set up to testify.
a person who testifies, especially in a court of lawDeu 19:15Num 35:30
the false witness the law forbids, set against the truthful oneExo 20:16Pro 14:5
God and his people called to stand as witnessesIsa 43:101Sa 12:5
חֹקA statute or fixed rule, something engraved or prescribed as binding. It is often paired with the testimonies but stresses the ruling as a settled decree rather than as a sworn declaration that bears witness to God.
Can mean a concrete witness set up to testify to an agreement between parties, a heap of stones, a pillar, or ewe lambs given as proof.Gen 21:30Gen 31:52Jos 24:27
Names God's testimonies as his attesting declarations, the reminders a worshiper is to keep, treasure, and delight in.Psa 119:2Psa 119:24Psa 119:167
Both
Both are covenant-law terms for God's revealed requirements, listed side by side in the standard formula of statutes and testimonies.Deu 4:45Deu 6:17Psa 99:7
Names the spoken witness of the good news, the message carried and proclaimed to the nations.Mat 24:141Ti 2:62Ti 1:8
μάρτυςGreek“witness”The Greek word for a witness, normally a person who testifies to what they have seen; the closest counterpart to the concrete witness sense.
A thing set up to stand as a permanent witness: a heap of stones, a pillar, or a large stone that will testify to an agreement long after the parties are gone.Gen 31:52Jos 24:27
God's covenant decrees, the testimonies he lays down as binding stipulations to be kept and loved.Deu 6:17Psa 119:2Psa 119:24
Both
Both provide the confirmation that establishes a matter so it cannot later be denied, whether the confirming party is a person or a marker set in place.Mat 18:16Gen 31:52
Names the binding terms of the covenant itself: the fixed commands and conditions God lays down for his people to keep, not a report of an event.Deu 4:45Psa 119:2Psa 132:12
Can be a physical marker set up to stand as proof of an agreement between parties, like a heap of stones or a stone that has heard the words spoken.Gen 31:52Jos 24:27
Is something to be loved, kept, and clung to as a way of life, not merely heard and weighed: the standing rule the faithful treasure.Psa 119:24Psa 119:167
Both
Both name something that stands as a witness, a thing set forward so the truth of a matter is established and cannot later be denied.Gen 21:30Jhn 1:7
Both are tied to God and call for a response: God himself gives or stands behind them, and people are accountable to receive and honor them.Psa 93:51Jn 5:9
Names the statement a witness gives: the spoken account of what someone has seen or knows, offered so others can judge whether it is true.Jhn 3:32Jhn 19:35
Carries a courtroom weight: testimony that can agree or fail to agree, that one person gives about another, and that may be received or rejected.Mrk 14:56Jhn 5:31Jhn 8:17
Can name a person's standing reputation, the good report others give about them, not just a single declaration.1Ti 3:7Tit 1:13
What scholars say about edah
Standard lexica derive this noun from the root meaning to bear witness or testify (BDB; HALOT). They distinguish a concrete use, the feminine counterpart of the common noun for a witness, applied to objects set up as enduring testimony (Genesis 21:30; 31:52; Joshua 24:27), from a plural use denoting the covenant stipulations of the LORD, chiefly in Deuteronomy and the Psalms. The plural testimonies are closely bound up with the near-identical noun for the covenant testimony housed in the sanctuary, and the lexica differ on whether these plural forms belong with the one noun or the other (BDB; HALOT; TDOT, s.v. עוד). TWOT and TDOT treat the whole group as expressions of the covenant relationship, God's solemn attestation of his will and his claim on his people.
Where scholars disagree about edah
Whether the plural forms translated testimonies belong to this noun or to the near-identical noun for the covenant testimony housed in the sanctuary.
contestedThe plural forms are a byform plural belonging with the sanctuary-testimony noun, filed apart from the concrete witness noun.; HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. עֵדוּת
contestedThe plural testimonies are filed under this noun as a distinct sense alongside the concrete witness.; BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. עֵדָה