Reference: Stone
American
The allusion in Re 2:17 may be to the practice at the Olympic games of giving the successful competitor a white stone, inscribed with his name and the value of his prize; or to the mode of balloting with black and white stones on the question of the acquittal of an accused person, or his admission to certain privileges; if the stones deposited in the urn by the judges were all white, the decision was favorable. In early ages, flint-stone knives were in common use, instead of steel, Ex 4:25; Jos 5:2. It was also customary to raise a heap or mound of stones in commemoration of any remarkable event, Ge 31:46; Jos 4:5-7; 7:26; 8:29; 2Sa 18:17. The same custom still prevails in Syria, and passing travellers are wont to add each one a stone to the heap. See CORNER STONE.
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And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones. And they took stones and made a heap. And they ate there upon the heap.
And Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and threw it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband you are to me.
And Joshua said to them, Pass over in front of the ark of Jehovah your God into the middle of the Jordan. And every man take a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, so that this may be a sign to you when your sons ask in time to come, saying, What do you mean by these stones? read more. Then you shall answer them, The waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. When it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be for a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.
At that time Jehovah said to Joshua, Make sharp knives for yourselves and circumcise the sons of Israel again, the second time.
And they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. And Jehovah turned from the greatness of His anger. Therefore, the name of that valley is called, The Valley of Grief, to this day.
And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his body down from the tree and throw it down at the entrance to the gate of the city, and raise on it a great heap of stones, to this day.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give to him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows except he who receives it .
Easton
Stones were commonly used for buildings, also as memorials of important events (Ge 28:18; Jos 24:26-27; 1Sa 7:12, etc.). They were gathered out of cultivated fields (Isa 5:2; comp. 2Ki 3:19). This word is also used figuratively of believers (1Pe 2:4-5), and of the Messiah (Ps 118:22; Isa 28:16; Mt 21:42; Ac 4:11, etc.). In Da 2:45 it refers also to the Messiah. He is there described as "cut out of the mountain." (See Rock.)
A "heart of stone" denotes great insensibility (1Sa 25:37).
Stones were set up to commemorate remarkable events, as by Jacob at Bethel (Ge 28:18), at Padan-aram (Ge 35:4), and on the occasion of parting with Laban (Ge 31:45-47); by Joshua at the place on the banks of the Jordan where the people first "lodged" after crossing the river (Jos 6:8), and also in "the midst of Jordan," where he erected another set of twelve stones (Jos 4:1-9); and by Samuel at "Ebenezer" (1Sa 7:12).
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And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put at his head, and set it as a memorial pillar, and poured oil on the top of it.
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put at his head, and set it as a memorial pillar, and poured oil on the top of it.
And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial pillar. And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones. And they took stones and made a heap. And they ate there upon the heap. read more. And Laban called it in Syrian, Heap of the Testimony, and Jacob called it in Hebrew, Heap of Testimony.
And they gave all the strange gods which were in their hands to Jacob, and the earrings in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
And it happened when all the people had completely passed over the Jordan, Jehovah spoke to Joshua saying, Take twelve men for you out of the people, a man out of every tribe, read more. and command them saying, Take twelve stones from here, out of the middle of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm. And you shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the place where you shall stay tonight. Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had prepared from the sons of Israel, a man out of every tribe. And Joshua said to them, Pass over in front of the ark of Jehovah your God into the middle of the Jordan. And every man take a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, so that this may be a sign to you when your sons ask in time to come, saying, What do you mean by these stones? Then you shall answer them, The waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. When it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be for a memorial to the sons of Israel forever. And the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded. And they took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as Jehovah spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they stayed, and laid them down there; even the twelve stones Joshua lifted up in the middle of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant, stood. And they are there to this day.
And it happened when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven ram's horns passed on before Jehovah and blew the ram's horns. And the ark of the covenant of Jehovah followed them.
And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Law of God, and took a great stone and set it up there under an oak by the sanctuary of Jehovah. And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the Words of Jehovah which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.
And Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Jehovah has helped us until now.
And it happened in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal and his wife had told him these things, his heart died within him and he became like a stone.
And you shall strike every fortified city, and every choice city. And you shall cut down every good tree and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.
The Stone which the builders refused has become the Head of the corner.
And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with choice vines, and built a tower in its midst, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and He looked for it to produce grapes. And it produced wild grapes.
therefore so says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I place in Zion a Stone for a foundation, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure Foundation; he who believes shall not hurry.
Because you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushes the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall occur after this. And the dream is certain, and its meaning is sure.
Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures, "The stone which the builders rejected, this One has become the head of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?"
This is the Stone which you builders have counted worthless, and He has become the Head of the Corner.
For having been drawn to Him, a living Stone, indeed rejected by men, but elect, precious with God; you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Hastings
STONE
I. In OT.
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And they said to one another, Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put at his head, and set it as a memorial pillar, and poured oil on the top of it.
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put at his head, and set it as a memorial pillar, and poured oil on the top of it.
And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that You shall give me, I will surely give the tenth to You.
And he looked, and behold, a well was in the field! And, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for they watered the flocks out of that well. And a great stone was upon the well's mouth.
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone. And he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.
And Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and threw it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband you are to me.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your rod, and stretch out your hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their canals, and upon their pools, and upon every reservoir of their waters, that they may become blood. And blood shall be throughout all the land of Egypt, both in wooden and in stone vessels.
But Moses' hands became heavy. And they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going of the sun.
And if you will make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stone. For if you lift up your tool upon it, you have defiled it.
And if men strive together, and one strikes another with a stone, or with his fist, and he does not die, but keeps his bed;
And Jehovah said to Moses, Come up to Me in the mountain, and be there. And I will give you tablets of stone, and the Law, and commandments which I have written, so that you may teach them.
And you shall take two onyx stones, and you shall engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel.
With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall make them to be set in settings of gold.
and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all workmanship.
And they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones. And he shall take other mortar and shall plaster the house.
or crook-backed, or a crushed one, or who has a blemish in his eye, or a scurvy or scabbed person, or one with crushed testicles.
And if he strikes him by throwing a stone, with which he may die, and if he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.
then you shall bring forth that man or that woman who has committed that evil thing, to your gates, even that man or that woman, and shall stone them with stones until they die. At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. read more. The hands of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. So you shall put the evil away from among you.
You may not remove your neighbor's landmark, which those in the past have set in your inheritance, which you shall inherit in the land which Jehovah your God gives you to possess it.
He who is wounded, crushed, or who has his male member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of Jehovah.
Be careful in the plague of leprosy, that you watch carefully and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you. As I commanded them, you shall be careful to do.
And it will be, on the day when you shall pass over Jordan to the land which Jehovah your God gives you, you shall set up great stones and plaster them with plaster.
And you shall build an altar there to Jehovah your God, an altar of stones. You shall not lift up any iron tool on them. You shall build the altar of Jehovah your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burnt offerings on it to Jehovah your God.
And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? Jehovah shall trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his body down from the tree and throw it down at the entrance to the gate of the city, and raise on it a great heap of stones, to this day. Then Joshua built an altar to Jehovah, the God of Israel in Mount Ebal,
And Joshua said, Roll great stones on the mouth of the cave, and set men by it in order to keep them.
And the border went up to Beth-hoglah, and passed along by the north of Beth-arabah. And the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben;
And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Law of God, and took a great stone and set it up there under an oak by the sanctuary of Jehovah.
And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there and there was a great stone. And they cut the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Jehovah.
And David put his hand into his bag and took a stone from there, and slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead. And he fell on his face to the earth.
And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons to David. And they built David a house.
And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand, and on his left.
And David and his men went by the highway. And Shimei went along on the hillside over across from him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and threw dust.
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, cut stones, to lay the foundation of the house.
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, cut stones, to lay the foundation of the house.
and to masons and cutters of stone, and to buy timber and cut stone to repair the breaks of the house of Jehovah, and for all that went forth for the house, to repair it.
And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from them. And he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen under it, and put it on a pavement of stones.
And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, and he was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah's place.
And he made engines in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones with. And his name spread far abroad. For he was wonderfully helped until he was strong.
And all of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and do harm to it.
He hangs his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
The Stone which the builders refused has become the Head of the corner.
The Stone which the builders refused has become the Head of the corner.
And He shall be a sanctuary for you, but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of falling to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the people of Jerusalem.
But the Word of Jehovah was to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.
For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings, Grace! Grace to it!
Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth. And they sprang up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth.
Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures, "The stone which the builders rejected, this One has become the head of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?"
And spitting at Him, they took the reed and struck at His head.
And another fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth. And it sprang up at once, due to not having deepness of earth.
And these are those likewise being sown on stony places; who, when they hear the Word, immediately receive it with gladness.
And He looked at them and said, What then is this which is written, "The Stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the Head of the corner?
And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, He said, You are Simon the son of Jonah; you shall be called Cephas (which translated is, A stone).
And there were six stone waterpots there, according to the purification of the Jews, each containing two or three measures.
This is the Stone which you builders have counted worthless, and He has become the Head of the Corner.
And throwing him outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid their clothes down at the feet of a young man named Saul.
For having been drawn to Him, a living Stone, indeed rejected by men, but elect, precious with God; you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. read more. Therefore also it is contained in the Scripture: "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner Stone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him shall never be ashamed." Therefore to you who believe is the honor. But to those who are disobedient, He is the Stone which the builders rejected; this One came to be the Head of the corner, and a Stone-of-stumbling and a Rock-of-offense to those disobeying, who stumble at the Word, to which they also were appointed.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give to him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows except he who receives it .
Watsons
STONE. This word is sometimes taken in the sense of rock, and is applied figuratively to God, as the refuge of his people. See Rock. The Hebrews gave the name of "stones" to the weights used in commerce; no doubt because they were originally formed of stone. "Just weights," is therefore in Hebrew, "just stones." "The corner stone," or "the head stone of the corner," is a figurative representation of Christ. It is the stone at the angle of a building, whether at the foundation or the top of the wall. Christ was that corner stone, which, though rejected by the Jews, became the corner stone of the church, and the stone that binds and unites the synagogue and the Gentiles in the unity of the same faith. Some have thought the showers of stones cast down by the Lord out of heaven, mentioned several times in the Old Testament, to be showers of hail of extraordinary size; which was probably the case, as they even now sometimes occur in those countries in a most terrific and destructive form, and show how irresistible an agent this meteor is in the hands of an offended God. The knives of stone that were made use of by the Jews in circumcision, were not enjoined by the law; but the use of them was founded, either upon custom, or upon the experience that this kind of instrument is found to be less dangerous than those made of metal. Zipporah made use of a stone to circumcise her sons, Ex 4:25. Jos 5:2, did the same, when he caused such of the Israelites to be circumcised at Gilgal, as had not received circumcision during their journey in the wilderness. The Egyptians, according to Herodotus, made use of knives of stone to open dead bodies that were to be embalmed; and Pliny assures us, that the priests of the mother of the gods had sharp stones, with which they cut and slashed themselves, which they thought they could not do with any thing else without danger. Great heaps of stones, raised up for a witness of any memorable event, and to preserve the remembrance of some matter of great importance, are among the most ancient monuments. In those elder ages, before the use of writing, these monuments were instead of inscriptions, pyramids, medals, or histories. Jacob and Laban raised such a monument upon Mount Gilead in memory of their covenant, Ge 31:46. Joshua erected one at Gilgal, made of stones taken out of the Jordan, to preserve the memorial of his miraculous passage over this river, Jos 4:5-7. The Israelites that dwelt beyond Jordan also raised one upon the banks of the river, as a testimony that they constituted but one nation with their brethren on the other side, Jos 22:10. Sometimes they heaped up such a collection of stones upon the burying place of some odious persons, as was none in the case of Achan and Absalom, Jos 7:26; 2Ki 18:17.
A "heart of stone" may be understood several ways. Job 41:24, speaking of the leviathan, says, that "his heart is as firm as a stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone:" that is, he is of a very extraordinary strength, boldness, and courage. It is said, 1Sa 25:37, that Nabal's heart died within him, and he became as a stone, when he was told of the danger he had incurred by his imprudence; his heart became contracted or convulsed, and this was the occasion of his death. Eze 36:26, says, that the Lord will take away from his people their heart of stone, and give them a heart of flesh; that is, he will render them contrite, and sensible to spiritual things. "I will give him a white stone," Re 2:17; that is, I will give him full and public pardon and absolution. It is spoken in allusion to an ancient custom of delivering a white stone to such as they acquitted in judgment. They used likewise to give a white stone to such as conquered in the Grecian games.
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And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones. And they took stones and made a heap. And they ate there upon the heap.
And Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and threw it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband you are to me.
And Joshua said to them, Pass over in front of the ark of Jehovah your God into the middle of the Jordan. And every man take a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, so that this may be a sign to you when your sons ask in time to come, saying, What do you mean by these stones? read more. Then you shall answer them, The waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. When it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be for a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.
At that time Jehovah said to Joshua, Make sharp knives for yourselves and circumcise the sons of Israel again, the second time.
And they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. And Jehovah turned from the greatness of His anger. Therefore, the name of that valley is called, The Valley of Grief, to this day.
And when they came to the borders of Jordan in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar of grand appearance there by Jordan.
And it happened in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal and his wife had told him these things, his heart died within him and he became like a stone.
His heart is cast hard as a stone, even cast hard as a piece of a riding millstone.
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give to him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows except he who receives it .