Stone; Stones
Stone; Stones [1]
stōn , stōnz :
1. Hebrew and Greek Words:
(1) Chiefly אבן , 'ebhen , and λίθος , lı́thos ; but also, occurring rarely, אשׁך , 'eshekh ( Leviticus 21:20 ); צוּר , cūr ( Job 22:24 ), usually "rock"; צרור , cerōr ( 2 Samuel 17:13 ); πέτρος , pétros ( John 1:42 ); ψῆφος , psḗphos ( Revelation 2:17 ). For סלע , ṣela‛ , usually "cliff," "crag," "rock," the King James Version, in Psalm 137:9; Psalm 141:6 , has "stone," but the Revised Version (British and American) "rock." For the King James Version "stones," חרשׂ , ḥeres ( 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 ( 1 Samuel 17:40 ); of stones set up as memorials ( 1 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" ( 1 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" ( Psalm 118:22 ).
(2) Used also anatomically of the testicles ( Leviticus 21:20; Deuteronomy 23:1; Job 40:17 , פּחד , paḥadh , the Revised Version (British and American) "thighs").
