What Does Luke 20:18 Mean in the King James?
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
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 stone has two kinds of impact: you can shatter against it, or be ground when it falls on you.
THE MEANING
In your encounter with the stone, falling against it leaves you broken, while its fall upon you grinds you to scattered fragments. The two clauses name opposite directions of impact, and neither leaves the one who meets it intact.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that harm comes only when the stone strikes you: falling upon it is already shattering.
THE ROOT
λίθον
líthon
GROWS FROM
λιθ-
λιθ- (lith-, stone) is the Greek consonant stem behind the word for stone and related verbs for striking with stones.
The noun λίθος (líthos, stone) belongs to the same word family as verbs for stoning someone. Here the stone is both what a person encounters and an active force that falls and crushes.
ALSO GROWS
litházō: to stone someone
λιθάζω
This verb shares the λιθ- stem and makes the stone’s striking force audible in the verse’s image.
lithóō: to stone or pelt with stones
λιθόω
This related verb also grows from λιθ-, showing how the noun for stone can become an action of impact.
συνθλασθήσεται
sunthlasthḗsetai
GROWS FROM
θλα-
θλα- (thla-, crush or bruise) is the Greek stem of a verb for crushing.
The word translated “broken” comes from συνθλάω (synthláō, crush or shatter), built on θλάω (thláō, crush or bruise). Its force is crushing and shattering, which pairs with the next clause’s image of grinding to powder.
ALSO GROWS
thláō: to crush or bruise
θλάω
This base verb shares the θλα- stem and shows the force carried by “broken.”
synthláō: to crush together, shatter
συνθλάω
This compound is the verb family behind the verse’s word for being broken.
λικμήσει
likmḗsei
GROWS FROM
λικμ-
λικμ- (likm-, winnow or scatter) is the consonant stem associated with winnowing and scattering.
The verb λικμήσει (likmḗsei, will grind to powder) is related to λικμάω (likmáō, winnow or scatter). Its word family carries both pulverizing and scattering force, so the stone’s impact leaves no whole form behind.
ALSO GROWS
likmáō: to winnow or scatter
λικμάω
This related verb shares the λικμ- stem and reveals the scattering image within the verse’s “grind to powder.”
líkmos: a winnowing fan
λίκμος
This related noun shares the same consonantal family and points to the scattering action associated with the verb.
THE PATTERN
The stone makes encounter consequential: what stumbles against it is broken, and what it strikes is scattered.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.THE THREAD
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 same Greek noun λίθος (líthos, stone) links the rejected corner stone to the stone that breaks or crushes in verse 18. The image holds together both the stone’s place as the corner’s head and the force of its encounter.
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