What Does 1 Peter 2:7 Mean?
So honor is yours, you who lean your full weight upon him; but for those who will not yield, the stone the builders tested and set aside has become the head of the corner,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,THE KEY
The builders’ rejection is a verdict on the stone, not its final place.
THE MEANING
For you who trust, the stone carries honor and worth. Those who refuse persuasion reject it, yet it becomes the head of the corner. Their judgment does not determine where the stone belongs.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that what powerful builders reject must be worthless or out of place.
THE ROOT
ἀπειθοῦσιν
apeithousin
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
peith-
Persuade, prevail upon; be persuaded.
“will not yield” in this verse is apeithousin. The verse sets those who trust against those who refuse persuasion. “Disobedient” carries a relational shade: a refusal to be convinced or to trust, not merely a failure to follow an order.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: Persuade, convince; be persuaded.
πείθω
This verb exposes the persuasion beneath the verse’s contrast between trust and refusal.
pistis: Trust, reliance.
πίστις
The word belongs to the trust family behind “believe”; the verse places trusting and refusing persuasion side by side.
ἀπεδοκίμασαν
apedokimasan
GROWS FROM
δοκιμ-
dokim-
Test, examine, approve.
“tested and set aside” in this verse is apedokimasan. The builders do more than overlook the stone: the verb describes rejecting it after assessment. Their examination reaches a verdict, but that verdict does not decide the stone’s place in the structure.
ALSO GROWS
dokimazō: Test, examine, approve.
δοκιμάζω
The shared stem makes the builders’ rejection an act of evaluation.
dokimos: Approved, tested, proven.
δόκιμος
Its opposite sense sharpens the reversal: what builders reject is established as the structure’s head.
τιμή
timē
GROWS FROM
τιμ-
tim-
Honor, value, price.
The Greek word holds honor and value together. The stone’s worth is more than a feeling about it: the verse speaks of its recognized value, even while builders reject it.
ALSO GROWS
timaō: Honor, value.
τιμάω
This verb shows that the root concerns assigning or recognizing worth.
entimos: Honored, valuable, precious.
ἔντιμος
The same value language describes the stone in the preceding verse, linking its worth with the honor held by those who trust.
THE PATTERN
Human rejection does not settle a stone’s place; the rejected one becomes the cornerstone.
The stone the builders push away becomes the head of the corner.Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a weighty cornerstone, a foundation set firm. The one who leans his weight will not hurry.Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone the builders tested and cast aside has become the head of the angle; this comes from the side of the LORD, and it is wondrous in our eyes?THE THREAD
Coming to him, as to a living stone, tested and set aside by men, but chosen by God and precious,“Disallowed” in both verses comes from the same Greek verb: the stone is rejected by people, yet chosen by God. The preceding verse also calls it “precious,” echoing the honor-and-value word in this verse.
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