The meaning of Stone, Stones in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
ston, stonz:
1. Hebrew and Greek Words:
(1) Chiefly 'ebhen, and lithos; but also, occurring rarely, 'eshekh (Leviticus 21:20); tsur (Job 22:24), usually "rock"; tseror (II Samuel 17:13); petros (John 1:42); psephos (Revelation 2:17). For cela', usually "cliff," "crag," "rock," the King James Version, in Psalms 137:9; Psalms 141:6, has "stone," but the Revised Version (British and American) "rock." For the King James Version "stones," cheres (Job 41:30), the Revised Version (British and American) has "potsherds."
See SELA.
2. Literal Usage:
The word is used of great stones (Genesis 29:2); of small stones (I Samuel 17:40); of stones set up as memorials (I Samuel 7:12, "Eben-ezer," "stone of help"); of precious stones (Exodus 35:9, etc.); of hailstones (Joshua 10:11).
3. Figurative Usage:
Of hardness: "I will take the stony heart out of their flesh" (Ezekiel 11:19); of one smitten: "(Nabal's) heart died within him, and became as a stone" (I Samuel 25:37); of weight: "A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty" (Proverbs 27:3); of dumbness: "Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise!" (Habakkuk 2:19); of Jerusalem: "I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples" (Zechariah 12:3); of the corner-stone as a figure of high position:
"The stone which the builders rejected
Is become the head of the corner" (Psalms 118:22).
See FLINT; ROCK.
(2) Used also anatomically of the testicles (Leviticus 21:20; Deuteronomy 23:1; Job 40:17, pachadh, the Revised Version (British and American) "thighs").
Alfred Ely Day
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