Bible Dictionary
VERILY, VERITY
“Verily” means truly, surely, or indeed, and is often used to emphasize the certainty of a statement. “Verity” means truth, faithfulness, or reality.
Definition
Verily is an adverb meaning truly, surely, indeed, or certainly, used to confirm or emphasize a statement. Verity means truth, faithfulness, steadfastness, reality, or certainty.
Biblical Usage
The Greek amen occurs frequently in the Gospels as an emphatic confirmation of Christ’s sayings and is repeated in John for added emphasis. Verity describes truth and steadfastness in God’s works and in Christian testimony.
Historical Background
Bible revisions replace verily in some passages with words such as wholly, surely, indeed, or exceeding, according to the sense of the underlying Hebrew or Greek expression.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ver'-i-ti, ver'-i-ti ('abhal, etc.; amen): "Verily," as corroborative adverb, represents various Hebrew and Greek words and particles ('abhal, "truly," in Ge 42:21, etc.; 'akh, "only," "surely," in Ps 66:19; Isa 45:15, etc.). For the King James Version "verily thou shalt be fed" (Ps 37:3, where 'emunah), the American Standard Revised Version has "feed on his faithfulness" and the English Revised Version "follow after faithfulness," margin in both "feed securely." The Greek amen (Hebrew 'amen) is used very frequently in the Gospels as an emphatic confirmation of Christ's sayings (Mt 5:18,26; 6:2; Mr 3:28, etc.), and in John's Gospel is repeated to give additional emphasis (Joh 1:51; 3:3,5,11, The Revised Version (British and American) makes various changes, as "wholly" for "verily" (Job 19:13), "surely" (Ps 39:5; 73:13), "indeed" (Mr 9:12; Ro 2:25; Heb 3:5; 7:5), etc., and sometimes puts "verily" where the King James Version has other words, as "also" (Mt 13:23), "doubtless" (Php 3:8), etc.</p><p>Verity is the translation of 'emeth, "truth," "stedfastness" (Ps 111:7, "The works of his hands are verity and judgment," the American Standard Revised Version "truth and justice," the English Revised Version "truth and judgment"); and of aletheia, "truth," "reality," "certainty" (1Ti 2:7), "faith and verity," the Revised Version (British and American) "faith and truth."</p><p>W. L. Walker</p>