Mark 12:10
in Mark 12Have you never read this Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Have ye not read even this scripture: The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner;
KJV
And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:
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This verse in Mark 12
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
The verses before us contain a historical parable. The history of the Jewish nation, from the day that Israel left Egypt down to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, is here set before us as in a mirror. Under the figure of the vineyard and the husbandmen, the Lord Jesus tells the story of God's dealings with His people for fifteen hundred years. Let us study it attentively, and apply it to ourselves. Let us observe, in the first place, God's special kindness to the Jewish Church and nation . He gave to them peculiar privileges.
This site's exposition
He will come and kill those tenants
on Mark 12:9-11
He will come and kill those tenants, and will give the vineyard to others answers the parable's own question. The judgment falls on the tenants who held the vineyard, and Mark does not say who the others are.
This site's exposition
The stone the builders rejected
Jesus turns to Psalm 118, where the leaders who were tenants in the story now appear as builders. Bede notes the shift and reads the cornerstone as Christ, on whom Jews and Gentiles are built into one temple. Theophylact calls the corner the Church, joining the two peoples.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church5 voices
The stone then which the builders refused, the same has become the head-stone of the corner, that is, of the Church. For the Church is, as it were, the corner, joining together Jews and Gentiles; and this corner has been made by the Lord, and is wonderful in our eyes, that is, in the eyes of the faithful; for miracles meet with detraction from the faithless. The Church indeed is wonderful, as it were resting on wonders, for the Lord worked with the Apostles, and confirmed the word with signs. And this is what is meant, when it is said, This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
Have you not read this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. How, he says, will this prophecy be fulfilled, that the stone rejected by the builders is said …
(ubi sup.) But that this was done by Divine interposition he affirms, by immediately afterwards adding, And have ye not read this Scripture, The stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone in the corner? As if he had said, how is this prophecy to be fulfilled, save in that Christ, being rejected and slain by you, is to be preached to the Gentiles, who will believe on Him? Thus then as a corner stone, He will found the two people on Himself, and of the two people will build for Himself a city of the faithful, one temple. For the masters of the synagogue, whom He had just called husbandmen, He now calls builders, because the same persons, who seemed to cultivate His people, that they might bear the fruits of life, like a vineyard, were also commanded to construct and adorn this people, to be, as it were, a house worthy to have God for its inhabitant.
This rejected stone, which is borne by that corner where the lamb and the bread met in the supper, ending the Old and beginning the New Testament, does things marvellous in our eyes as the topaz. (Ps. 118, Ps. 127. Vulg.)
Through all this the Lord shows that the Jews are rejected and the Gentiles are accepted. The "stone" is the Lord Himself, and the "builders" are the teachers of the people. Thus, He Whom these teachers rejected has "become the head of the corner," having …
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The exaltation of Christ was the Lord's doing, and it is his doing to exalt him in our hearts, and to set up his throne there; and if it be done, it cannot but be marvellous in our eyes. Now what effect had this parable upon the chief priests and scribes, whose conviction was designed by it?
And have ye not read this Scripture?....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The verses before us contain a historical parable. The history of the Jewish nation, from the day that Israel left Egypt down to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, is here set before us as in a mirror. Under the figure of the vineyard and the husbandmen, the Lord Jesus tells the story of God's dealings with His people for fifteen hundred years. Let us study it attentively, and apply it to ourselves. Let us observe, in the first place, God's special kindness to the Jewish Church and nation . He gave to them peculiar privileges. He dealt with them as a man deals with a piece of land which he separates and hedges in for "a vineyard." He gave them good laws and ordinances. He planted them in a goodly land, and cast out seven nations before them. He passed by greater and mightier nations to show them favor. He let alone Egypt, and Assyria, and Greece, and Rome, and showered down mercies on a few million people in Palestine. The vineyard of the Lord was the house of Israel. No family under heaven ever received so many signal and distinguishing privileges as the family of Abraham. And we too, who live in Great Britain, can we say that we have received no special mercies from God? We cannot say so. Why are we not a heathen country, like China? Why are we not a land of idolaters, like Hindostan? We owe it all to the distinguishing favor of God. It is not for our goodness and worthiness, but of God's free grace, that England is what England is among the nations of the earth. Let us be thankful for our mercies, and know the hand from which they come. Let us not be high-minded, but humble, lest we provoke God to take our mercies away. If Israel had peculiar national privileges, so also has England. Let Englishmen mark this well, and take heed lest that which happened to Israel should happen also to them.
The words behind it
15 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| οὐδὲ | oude | Not even | G3761 → | 141 times |
| τὴν | ten | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γραφὴν | graphen | Scripture | G1124 → | 49 times |
| ταύτην | tauten | this | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| ἀνέγνωτε· | anegnote | have you read: | G314 → | 32 times |
| λίθον | lithon | [The] stone | G3037 → | 58 times |
| ὃν | hon | which | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| ἀπεδοκίμασαν | apedokimasan | rejected | G593 → | |
| οἱ | hoi | those | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| οἰκοδομοῦντες, | oikodomountes | building, | G3618 → | 40 times |
| οὗτος | houtos | this | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| ἐγενήθη | egenethe | has become | G1096 → | 667 times |
| εἰς | eis | the | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| κεφαλὴν | kephalen | chief | G2776 → | 75 times |
| γωνίας· | gonias | of [the] corner; | G1137 → |
οὐδὲNot even
oudeG3761 →141 times
τὴν<the>
tenG3588 →19766 times
γραφὴνScripture
graphenG1124 →49 times
ταύτηνthis
tautenG3778 →1381 times
ἀνέγνωτε·have you read:
anegnoteG314 →32 times
λίθον[The] stone
lithonG3037 →58 times
ὃνwhich
honG3739 →1405 times
ἀπεδοκίμασανrejected
apedokimasanG593 →
οἱthose
hoiG3588 →19766 times
οἰκοδομοῦντες,building,
oikodomountesG3618 →40 times
οὗτοςthis
houtosG3778 →1381 times
ἐγενήθηhas become
egenetheG1096 →667 times
εἰςthe
eisG1519 →1755 times
κεφαλὴνchief
kephalenG2776 →75 times
γωνίας·of [the] corner;
goniasG1137 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 28:16So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
it leads to
- Psalms 118:22
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- Acts 4:11–12
This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
- 1 Peter 2:6–8
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.”
- Luke 20:17–18
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’?
- Romans 9:33
as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
- Psalms 118:22
Through
Matthew 21:42Jesus 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’?
it leads to
- Psalms 118:22–23
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- Isaiah 28:16
So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
- Acts 4:11
This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
- Psalms 118:22–23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies13
On this verse
About Mark
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Mark; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pseudo-Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.