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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Stone; Stones
Subjects in this Topic:
stōn, stōnz:
1. Hebrew and Greek Words:
(1) Chiefly ×בן, 'ebhen, and λιÌθος, lıÌthos; but also, occurring rarely, ×ש×ך, 'eshekh (); צוּר, cuÌ„r (), usually “rockâ€; צרור, ceroÌ„r (); πεÌÏ„Ïος, peÌtros (); ψῆφος, pseÌ„Ìphos (). For סלע, sÌ£ela‛, usually “cliff,†“crag,†“rock,†the King James Version, in ; , has “stone,†but the Revised Version (British and American) “rock.†For the King James Version “stones,†חרשׂ, hÌ£eres (), the Revised Version (British and American) has “potsherds.†See SELA.
2. Literal Usage:
The word is used of great stones (); of small stones (); of stones set up as memorials (, “Eben-ezer,†“stone of helpâ€); of precious stones (, etc.); of hailstones ().
3. Figurative Usage:
Of hardness: “I will take the stony heart out of their flesh†(); of one smitten: “(Nabal's) heart died within him, and became as a stone†(); of weight: “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty†(); of dumbness: “Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise!†(); of Jerusalem: “I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples†(); of the corner-stone as a figure of high position:
“The stone which the builders rejected
Is become the head of the corner†().
See FLINT; ROCK.
(2) Used also anatomically of the testicles (; ; , פּחד, pahÌ£adh, the Revised Version (British and American) “thighsâ€).