A stone
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
אֶבֶן (eben) is the Hebrew word for stone — one of the most theologically layered nouns in the OT. Stones are used as covenant-markers (Jacob's Bethel pillar, Gen 28:18), memorial witnesses (Joshua's twelve stones at Gilgal, Josh 4:20), law-bearers (the two tablets of stone, Exod 24:12), measuring instruments for economic justice (the honest weights, Deut 25:13-15), and in two of the OT's most significant prophetic.
Reader summary
Full entry for אֶבֶן (H68) · Open the biblical lexicon
אֶבֶן (eben) is the Hebrew word for stone — one of the most theologically layered nouns in the OT. Stones are used as covenant-markers (Jacob's Bethel pillar, Gen 28:18), memorial witnesses (Joshua's twelve stones at Gilgal, Josh 4:20), law-bearers (the two tablets of stone, Exod 24:12), measuring instruments for economic justice (the honest weights, Deut.
The BSB source-word alignment has 273 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include stones (62), stone (31), . . . (22), a stone (16), and stone (10).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 2:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (33), Deuteronomy (25), 1 Kings (24), Joshua (22).
אֶבֶן (eben) is the Hebrew word for stone — one of the most theologically layered nouns in the OT. Stones are used as covenant-markers (Jacob's Bethel pillar, Gen 28:18), memorial witnesses (Joshua's twelve stones at Gilgal, Josh 4:20), law-bearers (the two tablets of stone, Exod 24:12), measuring instruments for economic justice (the honest weights, Deut 25:13-15), and in two of the OT's most significant prophetic images: the rejected stone that becomes the cornerstone (Ps 118:22) and the cut stone from Daniel 2 that destroys the world-empire image.
Psalm 118:22 gives eben its most important theological form: 'The stone (eben) that the builders rejected has become the rosh pinnah (cornerstone/head of the corner).' The rejected-then-vindicated stone is the covenant-reversal image: what human builders discard as unfit, YHWH makes the structural foundation. In its original context, the Psalm is a thanksgiving after deliverance — the rejected one (Israel? the king?) has been vindicated by YHWH. Jesus applies it to himself in Matthew 21:42 after the parable of the wicked tenants: 'Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?'
Isaiah 28:16 gives eben its foundation form: 'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone (eben), a tested stone (eben bochan), a precious cornerstone (pinna yiqrat musad), a sure foundation (musad musad); whoever believes will not be in haste.' YHWH's foundation-stone in Zion is the antithesis of Israel's 'refuge of lies' (v. 15 — the false alliance with Egypt). The eben bochan (tested stone) is laid by YHWH himself as the structural replacement for human schemes. Paul quotes this in Romans 9:33 and 10:11, applying it to Christ as the foundation-stone in whom trust produces no shame.
Daniel 2:34-35 gives eben its eschatological-kingdom form: 'As you looked, a stone (eben) was cut without hands and struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces... But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.' The eben cut without human agency that destroys Nebuchadnezzar's empire-image and fills the earth is the kingdom of God (v. 44-45: 'a kingdom that will never be destroyed... like the stone cut from a mountain without hands').
Genesis 28:18 gives eben its memorial-witness form: 'And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone (eben) that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar (matstsevah) and poured oil on the top of it.' Jacob's Bethel-pillar is the eben-marker of a divine encounter — the place where YHWH appeared is permanently marked by a stone. The eben is the witness: 'this stone which I have set up as a pillar shall be God's house' (v. 22).
For the preacher, אֶבֶן (eben) gives the congregation the grammar of YHWH's foundational work: what human builders reject, YHWH makes his cornerstone; what human empires build, his eben demolishes and replaces.
אֶבֶן (eben) is locally indexed at about 273 occurrences. Its theological center is the rejected stone that becomes the cornerstone (Ps 118:22), YHWH's foundation-stone in Zion (Isa 28:16), and Daniel's eschatological stone cut without hands (Dan 2:34). Secondary theological uses: Jacob's Bethel pillar (Gen 28:18), the stone tablets of Torah (Exod 24:12), the stones of stumbling (Isa 8:14), and the honest weights required by covenant justice (Deut 25:13-15).
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
The rejected eben as cornerstone: 'the eben that the builders rejected (maasu ha-bonim) has become the rosh pinnah (cornerstone).' This is the most-quoted OT verse in the NT's Christology of rejection-and-vindication. The 'builders' (bonim) who reject the eben are the human authorities and powers who discard what YHWH values. The rosh pinnah (head of the corner/cornerstone) is the structural stone on which everything depends.
Jesus quotes this in Matt 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17 after the parable of the wicked tenants — the vineyard-keepers who killed the son are the builders who rejected the stone; the son-become-cornerstone is Christ rejected and raised. Acts 4:11, 1 Pet 2:7, and Eph 2:20 all apply it to the resurrection: the rejected stone is vindicated.
So this is what the Lord God says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
The eben bochan (tested stone) in Zion: 'behold I am laying in Zion a stone (eben), a tested stone (eben bochan), a precious cornerstone (pinna yiqrat musad)... whoever believes (ha-maamin) will not be in haste (lo yachish).' Isaiah 28:16's eben is the divine answer to Israel's 'refuge of lies' alliance with Egypt (v. 15): YHWH himself lays the tested, precious cornerstone in Zion as the true foundation.
The believer's security is in trusting this eben, not in human schemes. Romans 9:33 and 10:11 combine Isaiah 28:16 with Isaiah 8:14 to identify the eben as Christ: the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.
As you watched, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.
The eschatological eben cut without hands: 'an eben was cut without hands and struck the image on its feet of iron and clay.' Nebuchadnezzar's dream-image represents successive world empires (head of gold = Babylon, chest of silver = Persia, etc.) ; the eben cut without human agency destroys the entire image (v. 35: 'then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors') and itself 'became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.'
The eben-kingdom of Dan 2:44 is the kingdom of God: 'it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.'
Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,
The Bethel eben-pillar: 'Jacob rose early and took the eben he had placed under his head and set it up as a matstsevah (pillar/standing stone) and poured oil on its head.' The eben that had been Jacob's pillow becomes the eben of divine encounter — the place where YHWH appeared (v. 13-15) is marked permanently by the anointed stone. Jacob names the place Bethel ('house of God') and says 'this eben which I have set up as a pillar shall be God's house' (v.
22). The anointed eben of Bethel is the first instance of a stone-sanctuary in the patriarchal narratives — the eben that marks the place of divine meeting.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
The eben tablets of Torah: 'I will give you the tablets of stone (luchot ha-eben) and the law and the commandment.' The Torah is written on eben — the most permanent, durable medium available in the ancient world. The eben-tablets carry the covenant and survive its violation (Moses breaks them in Exod 32:19; new tablets are cut in Exod 34:1). The contrast with the new covenant is drawn in Jeremiah 31:33 (Torah on the heart, not eben) and 2 Corinthians 3:3 (the Spirit writes on 'tablets of human hearts, not tablets of stone [lapideis lithinais]).
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Foundation and witness: stone marks covenant, builds altars, and testifies to God's permanence and judgment
Foundation and witness: stone marks covenant, builds altars, and testifies to God's permanence and judgment
a stone BDB: stone Usage: carbuncle, mason, plummet, (chalk-, hail-, head-, sling-) stone(-ny), (divers) weight(-s).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 273 lexical occurrence verses.
אֶבֶן is built from this root:
The stone imagery anticipates later biblical teaching about Christ as cornerstone and stumbling block.Isaiah 8:9-15
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
אֶבֶן (eben) gives the congregation two overlapping stone-theologies. The first is the foundational eben: Isaiah 28:16's tested stone laid by YHWH in Zion, and Psalm 118:22's rejected stone that becomes the cornerstone — both find their NT fulfillment in Christ as the one whom human builders discarded and whom YHWH made the structural center of the new creation.
1 Peter 2:4-8 weaves together Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22, and Isaiah 8:14 into the most concentrated NT eben-Christology: 'As you come to him, a living stone (lithos zon) rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious... you yourselves like living stones (lithoi zontes) are being built up as a spiritual house.' The second is Daniel's eschatological eben cut without hands (Dan 2:34) that destroys the empire-image and becomes the mountain that fills the earth — the kingdom of God that replaces every human empire.
Both stone-theologies converge in Christ: the stone the builders rejected (Ps 118:22) is also the stone cut without hands (Dan 2:34) that will fill the earth.
Ps.118.22
אֶבֶן (eben, H68) is one of the oldest and most concrete nouns in Hebrew — it appears across the full range of literary genres without significant semantic shift. The key theological compounds: eben pinnah (cornerstone, H68+H6438); eben ha-rosh (head stone, H68+H7218, appearing in Zech 4:7: 'he shall bring forward the top stone [eben ha-rosh] amid shouts of Grace, grace to it!')
; Eben bochan (tested/tried stone, H68+H974); eben negeph (stone of stumbling/offense, H68+H5063); eben negeph ve-tsur michshol (stone of offense and rock of stumbling, Isa 8:14). In NT Greek, the primary heir is lithos (G3037, stone — used for Ps 118:22 in Matt 21:42, 1 Pet 2:4-8) and petra (G4073, rock — used of the foundation rock in Matt 16:18 and 1 Cor 10:4).
The distinction between lithos and petra in NT Greek is not always precise: lithos is a detached stone (a building block or a thrown stone); petra is a mass of rock (bedrock, cliff). Jesus gives Simon the name Petros (G4074, a stone/rock — Aramaic Kepha) in Matthew 16:18 and distinguishes between the petra (the bedrock confession) and Petros (the named apostle).
The NT's eben-Christology is the most concentrated multi-citation OT application in the NT epistles. 1 Peter 2:4-8 strings together three eben passages: Isaiah 28:16 (v. 6 — the chosen, precious cornerstone), Psalm 118:22 (v. 7 — the stone the builders rejected), and Isaiah 8:14 (v. 8 — a stone of stumbling). The same God who laid the eben bochan in Zion (Isa 28:16) rejected by the builders (Ps 118:22) is now a stone of stumbling to those who do not believe (Isa 8:14).
Ephesians 2:20 gives the eben-Christology its community form: 'built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone (akrogoniaion).' The congregation is the building assembled on the eben. Romans 9:32-33 combines Isaiah 28:16 and 8:14: Israel stumbled over the eben of stumbling — 'they have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written: Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling (lithos proskommatos) and a rock of offense (petra skandalou).'
The eben that is foundation for those who believe is the eben of stumbling for those who do not. Matthew 21:44 gives the eben its judgment form: 'The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him' — combining Ps 118:22 and Dan 2:34 (the eben that crushes the empire-image).