What Does Luke 20:17 Mean in the King James?
And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
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 becomes the corner’s head: human dismissal becomes the very point that sets the whole structure.
THE MEANING
The verse holds rejection and becoming together: what is cast aside can become the point that orders the whole structure. It speaks now into the apparent finality of exclusion: another’s verdict does not settle the place you ultimately occupy.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being rejected proves you are unfit and have no place.
THE ROOT
ἀπεδοκίμασαν
apedokimasan
GROWS FROM
δοκιμ-
The Greek stem δοκιμ- (dokim-, testing and approval) carries the sense of examining or proving.
In ἀπεδοκίμασαν (apedokimasan, they rejected), the stem δοκιμ- (dokim-, testing and approval) sits inside a verdict against the stone: the builders assess it and cast it away. The prefix ἀπο- (apo-, away) turns that assessment toward rejection, yet the rejected stone becomes the corner’s head.
ALSO GROWS
dokimazō: To test, examine, or approve after testing.
δοκιμάζω
The shared δοκιμ- stem shows that the builders’ rejection is a judgment about the stone, not a neutral act of overlooking it.
dokimos: Tested and approved; genuine.
δόκιμος
This related word carries the stem’s other possible outcome: what is examined may prove sound, even when the builders’ verdict is rejection.
THE PATTERN
What builders reject can become the stone that fixes the structure’s alignment.
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.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 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,Peter repeats Luke’s Greek verb ἀπεδοκίμασαν (apedokimasan, they rejected) in the stone saying. The shared root connects the builders’ verdict with the surprising outcome: the stone they reject becomes the corner’s head.
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