Word study
Cornerstone
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: cornerstone, cornerstones. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “cornerstone” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- פִּנָּה pinnâhcornertranslated this way 4 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H6438Noun · Translated: corner 12, corners 6, cornerstone 3, leaders 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Job 38:6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
Isaiah 19:13 The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.
- רֹאשׁ rôshheadtranslated this way 1 time of its 570 uses · Strong’s H7218Noun · Translated: head 200, heads 113, chief 31, top 29Full study and all 530 verses →
Psalm 118:22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- אֶבֶן ebenstonetranslated this way 1 time of its 242 uses · Strong’s H68Noun · Translated: stones 92, stone 86, gemstones 7, weights 5Full study and all 217 verses →
Jeremiah 51:26 No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,” declares the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- γωνία gōníaa corner, a secret placetranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G1137Noun · Translated: corners 3, cornerstone 3, corner 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Mark 12:10 Have you never read this Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- κεφαλή kephalḗthe headtranslated this way 2 times of its 71 uses · Strong’s G2776Noun · Translated: head 50, heads 19, cornerstone 2Full study and all 63 verses →
Luke 20:17 But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?
Acts 4:11 This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
- ἀκρογωνιαῖος akrogōniaîosin the corner, cornerstonetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G204Adjective · Translated: cornerstone 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Ephesians 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
1 Peter 2:6 For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about cornerstone: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.