To lapidate
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.
Lithazo means to stone someone, to put a person under violent communal attack by throwing stones. In the New Testament it appears in scenes where religious anger, public pressure, or persecuting hostility moves toward bodily harm.
Reader summary
Full entry for λιθάζω (G3034) · Open the biblical lexicon
Lithazo means to stone someone, to put a person under violent communal attack by throwing stones. In the New Testament it appears in scenes where religious anger, public pressure, or persecuting hostility moves toward bodily harm.
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to stone (2), do you stone (1), I was stoned (1), stone (1), They stoned (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 8:5. Its strongest book concentrations include John (5), Acts (2), 2 Corinthians (1), Hebrews (1).
Lithazo means to stone someone, to put a person under violent communal attack by throwing stones. In the New Testament it appears in scenes where religious anger, public pressure, or persecuting hostility moves toward bodily harm. The word is concrete and severe. It does not mean disagreement, criticism, or symbolic rejection. In John, attempts to stone Jesus expose the deadly seriousness of the conflict over His identity and works.
In Acts, fear of being stoned shapes how authorities handle the apostles, and Paul himself suffers stoning as gospel opposition becomes physical violence. Hebrews places stoning among the sufferings endured by faithful witnesses. Lithazo therefore helps readers see that Scripture does not romanticize persecution or sanitize mob violence. It names real danger while also showing that faithful witness may endure hatred without surrendering truth.
Lithazo names literal stoning in scenes of threatened or enacted violence. Its New Testament uses expose religious hostility, public fear, persecution, and costly witness without turning suffering into spectacle.
At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him.
The leaders reach for stones after Jesus' words and works press the question of His identity.
“We are not stoning You for any good work,” said the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because You, who are a man, make Yourself out to be God.”
Jesus clarifies that the issue is not a good work but the charge of blasphemy tied to His divine claim.
“Rabbi,” they replied, “the Jews just tried to stone You, and You are going back there?”
The disciples remember the recent attempt to stone Jesus and understand that returning to Judea carries danger.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
Paul names stoning as one of the concrete sufferings he endured in apostolic ministry.
Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, presuming he was dead.
Paul is actually stoned and left for dead, showing missionary opposition moving from persuasion to violence.
They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.
Hebrews lists stoning among the sufferings of faithful witnesses who endured mistreatment.
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.
Greek word. To stone to death as judicial punishment or mob violence, often implying communal execution.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I stone
Read verseI stone
Read verseI stone
Read verseI stone
Read verseI stone
Read verseI stone
Read verseI stone
Read verseI stone
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 8 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
λιθάζω is built from this root:
Lithazo shows that opposition to God's word can become embodied violence. In John, the threat to stone Jesus is tied to His works and His claim about the Father. The issue is not a minor disagreement but the refusal to receive the Son's testimony. In Acts, the same kind of public hostility surrounds apostolic witness, whether authorities fear being stoned by the people or Paul is dragged outside a city after being stoned.
Hebrews widens the view and places stoning within the history of faithful endurance. The word therefore guards readers from two errors: dramatizing ordinary discomfort as persecution, and minimizing real suffering as if it were only social pressure. Lithazo calls teachers to tell the truth about hostility, honor costly faithfulness, and keep attention on God's mission rather than on violence itself.
John.10.31
Lithazo is a verb for stoning. Its forms in the selected passages include threatened action, present accusation, remembered danger, feared crowd violence, completed assault, and passive suffering.
The Old Testament treats stoning as a severe covenantal penalty in Israel's legal setting, while the New Testament uses lithazo mainly in scenes of threatened or persecuting violence. That shift matters. Teachers should not import every legal category into John or Acts. The canonical connection is the seriousness of public judgment and the danger faced by faithful witnesses, not a simple one-to-one legal application.