What Does 1 Peter 2:4 Mean in the King James?
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The rejected stone remains living and precious under another verdict: God chooses it.
THE MEANING
You come to one who is alive, though human judgment has examined and rejected him. God’s choosing and honor stand alongside that judgment; the rejection remains real, but it does not define the stone’s worth. The verse holds both verdicts in view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that rejection proves worthlessness dissolves here: the rejected one is still chosen and precious.
THE ROOT
ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον
apodedokimasmenon
GROWS FROM
ἀποδοκιμάζω
apodokimazō
Reject after testing or examination.
“disallowed” in this verse is apodedokimasmenon. The English gives the verdict, while the Greek preserves the examination behind it: the stone is tested and turned away. The word holds that rejection as a judgment made about the stone, not as the measure of its worth.
ALSO GROWS
dokimos: Approved after testing.
δόκιμος
It shares the testing language and shows that examination can end in approval as well as rejection.
dokimē: Tested character or proven quality.
δοκιμή
It carries the idea of what is shown through examination, making the builders’ rejection a verdict about the stone rather than its nature.
ζῶντα
zōnta
GROWS FROM
ζάω
zaō
Live, be alive.
The description holds life and stone together: firmness is not lifelessness. The one people reject is living, carrying the same life expressed by the Greek noun ζωή (zōē).
ALSO GROWS
zōē: Life.
ζωή
It makes the shared root visible: the stone is described with the same word family that names life.
zōopoieō: Make alive, give life.
ζωοποιέω
This branch shows the root’s life-giving reach and deepens the contrast between a living stone and an inert object.
ἔντιμον
entimon
GROWS FROM
τιμή
timē
Honor, value, worth.
Precious carries a valuation of honor, not merely an appealing quality. The verse sets that honor beside rejection: the human dismissal does not erase the worth God gives.
ALSO GROWS
timios: Precious, valued, honored.
τίμιος
It shares the same value-and-honor stem, echoing the worth named in this verse.
timaō: Honor, value.
τιμάω
This verb shows the same root as an act of assigning honor, linking the stone’s value with the honor given to it.
THE PATTERN
The builders’ rejection does not determine the stone’s place; the rejected one can become the cornerstone.
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.THE THREAD
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,“Disallowed” repeats the same Greek verb family as the rejection in this verse. The next line names the rejected stone as the head of the corner, showing that the builders’ verdict does not control its place.
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