Testimony

In the OT this word is scarcely, if at all, used in the ordinary sense of 'witness' or ' evidence,' although it has this meaning fre- quently in the NT. We will reserve the treat- ment of this sense of the term and partly of the OT ' tectify ' for art. Witnk.ss, and devote the present art. to the special OT usage. The Heb. terms are [nyj] and nny or niy. The existence of the first of these has been postulated to account for the plur.

my, which is found (alone or with snttixes) in Dt 4> 6"-» Ps 25'" 78" 93° 99' 1 iga. a. m. 46. to. 79. M. ii». 12s. is«. im. ua. H7. i« Such a bourse appears, however, to be unnecessary, for in every instance my might be vocalized nny, or my • OOP igree In ^ving the comipt t«xt which contains an •ccojnt of the Seven heavens. For an account of the latter •e CbArlea, .Boot q/ tht Stcrctt 0/ Enoch (18B6). might be taken as a contraction of ifn^ ('edwdth), the plur.

of nn; (so Stade, § 3206 ; Sieg'fried-S'<ide, Buhl). The form nny is found in 1 K 2», 2 K 17" 23^ Jer 44-=', 1 Ch 29'», 2 Ch 34»>, Neh 9»», Pa 119"- 81. M. w. 111. la. i«. 157. In ijoth tliese sets of paawiges the name ' testimonies ' is applied to God'i law* as being a solemn declaration ot His will or a protest against deviation from its performance (see Driver, Dcut. p. 81, who compares ? Tyn= ' testify or pro- test aqaitut ' [not 'unto J, 2 K 17", Jer U', Ps 50' 8l», Neh 9a1.a9.so).

'-fhe testimony' (nnyn) is a technical term, esp. in P, for the Decalogue (LXX TO /juipTvpia, Ex 25 '•" 40-°) as being par excellence the declaration of the Divine will. Hence the expressions 'tables of the testimony' (LXX oi 7r\d«s roD futprvpiov, Ex 31" 32''^ 34'.); 'ark of the testimony,' which contained these tables (LXX ^ Ktpuris ToS fuipri'ptov. Ex 25'" 20==. " 308- '•" 31' 39»» 403.0. ai_ Nu 46 769^ jog 416 [duj,,,. \,at Bennett, Steuemagel, et al.

, n-ijn ' ark of the covenant ']) ; + ' tabernacle of the testimony or witness ' (LXX t) ffA.-Tji'T) ToD imprvplov [so in Ac 7'", Rev 15°]), Ex 38^', Nu i».ii3 6i, iQii [j^]! misk/can luiabUh\ Nu 9«> 17'- « 18», 2 Ch 24" [all 'ohd ha-ediUh]. See art. Tabernaclk, p. 655. 'The testimony' is an abbreviation for ' the ark of the testimony ' in Ex 16** (LXX ivavrlov toO Oeov) 27"' (^tt! tti^ diaSqKrit) 30^.

{irl 7-^j Ki^icTov tQv jiaprvpiuv) ^ {air^favTi tuip fuipTvptui'), Lv 16" (^Tri Tiix iiapTvpliiiv) 24^ ((v Ty (TKijfj ToD fiapTvplov), Nu 17"" {Kar^vavTi toS fwpTvplov) a {ifiliinov Turn iiapTvpiuiv). A later usage extended the term hd'ediUh from the Decalogue to the Law in general : Ps 19" 78" (|| ^in) 81^ (|| pn ' statute ') 119« 122. For nny.T (' the testimony') of 2 K 11"=2 Ch 23" we should prob. read nn^i-n ('the bracelets,' see Wellh.-Bleek, p. 258 n.)

, although LXX has ri imp- ripiov and to. ixapripia in the respective j)assages. In Sir 45", wliere the LXX has ' to teach Jacob the testimonies' (B rd /xaprvpia, A iiaprvplav), the Heb. text has 'so he taught his people statute' (pn). J. A. Selbie.