King James Bible Dictionary

Stones were commonly used for buildings, also as memorials of important events (Genesis 28:18; Joshua 24:26, 27; 1 Samuel 7:12, etc.). They were gathered out of cultivated fields (Isaiah 5:2; comp. 2 Kings 3:19). This word is also used figuratively of believers (1 Peter 2:4, 5), and of the Messiah (Psalms 118:22; Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11, etc.). In Daniel 2:45 it refers also to the Messiah. He is there described as "cut out of the mountain." (See ROCK.)

A "heart of stone" denotes great insensibility (1 Samuel 25:37).

Stones were set up to commemorate remarkable events, as by Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:18), at Padan-aram (35:4), and on the occasion of parting with Laban (31:45-47); by Joshua at the place on the banks of the Jordan where the people first "lodged" after crossing the river (Joshua 6:8), and also in "the midst of Jordan," where he erected another set of twelve stones (4:1-9); and by Samuel at "Ebenezer" (1 Samuel 7:12).

STONE, noun [Gr.]

1. A concretion of some species of earth, as lime, silex, clay and the like, usually in combination with some species of air or gas, with sulphur or with a metallic substance; a hard compact body, of any form and size. In popular language, very large masses of concretions are called rocks; and very small concretions are universally called gravel or sand, or grains of sand. Stones are of various degrees of hardness and weight; they are brittle and fusible, but not malleable, ductile, or soluble in water. Stones are of great and extensive use int he construction of buildings of all kinds, for walls, fences, piers, abutments, arches, monuments, sculpture and the like. When we speak of the substance generally, we use stone in the singular; as a house or wall of stone But when we speak of particular separate masses, we say, a stone or the stones.

2. A gem; a precious stone

Inestimable stones, unvalud jewels.

3. Any thing made of stone; a mirror.

4. A calculous concretion in the kidneys or bladder; the disease arising from a calculus.

5. A testicle.

6. The nut of a drupe or stone fruit; or the hard covering inclosing the kernel, and itself inclosed by the pulpy pericarp.

7. In Great Britain, the weight of fourteen pounds. [8, 12, 14, or 16.] [Not used in the United States, except in reference to the riders of horses in races.]

8. A monument erected to preserve the memory of the dead.

Should some relentless eye glance on the stone where our cold relics lie--

9. It is used to express torpidness and insensibility; as a heart of stone

I have not yet forgot myself to stone

10. stone is prefixed to some words to qualify their signification. Thus stone-dead, is perfectly dead, as lifeless as a stone; stone-still, still as a stone perfectly still; stone-blind, blind as a stone perfectly blind.

To leave no stone unturned, a proverbial expression which signifies to do every thing that can be done; to use all practicable means to effect an object.

Meteoric stones, stones which fall from the atmosphere, as after the displosion of a meteor.

Philosophers stone a pretended substance that was formerly supposed to have the property of turning any other substance into gold.

STONE, adjective Made of stone or like stone; as a stone jug.

STONE, verb transitive

1. To pelt, beat or kill with stones.

And they stoned Stephen calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Acts 7:58.

2. To harden.

O perjurd woman, thou dost stone my heart. [Little used.]

3. To free from stones; as, to stone raisins.

4. To wall or face with stones; to line or fortify with stones; as, to stone a well; to stone a cellar.

STONE-BLIND, adjective [stone and blind.] Blind as a stone; perfectly blind.

STONE-BOW, noun [stone and bow.] A cross bow for shooting stones.

STONE-BREAK, noun [stone and break. Latin ] A plant.

STONE-CHAT, STONE-CHATTER, noun [stone and chatter.] A bird, the Motacilla rubicola.

STONE-CRAY, noun A distemper in hawks.

STONE-CROP, noun A sort of tree. A plant of the genus Sedum; wall-pepper. The stone-crop tree or shrubby glass-wort is of the genus Chenopodium.

STONECUTTER, noun [stone and cut.] One whose occupation is to hew stones.

STONECUTTING, noun The business of hewing stones for walls, steps, cornices, monuments, etc.

STONED, participle passive Pelted or killed with stones; freed from stones; walled with stones.

STONE-DEAD, adjective [stone and dead.] As lifeless as a stone.

STONE-FERN, noun [stone and fern.] A plant.

STONE-FLY, noun [stone and fly.] An insect.

STONE-FRUIT, noun [stone and fruit.] Fruit whose seeds are covered with a hard shell enveloped in the pulp, as peaches, cherries, plums, etc.; a drupe.

STONE-HAWK, noun [stone and hawk.] A kind of hawk.

STONE-HEARTED, STONY-HEARTED, adjective [stone and heart.] Hard hearted; cruel; pitiless; unfeeling.

STONE-HORSE, noun [stone and horse.] A house built of stone.

STONE-HOUSE, noun [stone and house.] A house built of stone.

STONE-PARSLEY, noun A plant of the genus Bubon.

STONE-PIT, noun [stone and pit.] A pit or quarry where stones are dug.

STONE-PITCH, noun [stone and pitch.] Hard inspissated pitch.

STONE-PLOVER, noun [stone and plover.] A bird.

STONER, noun One who beats or kills with stones; one who walls with stones.

Commandments engraved upon
Exodus 24:12; Exodus 31:18; Exodus 34:1-4; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 5:22; Deuteronomy 9:9-11; Deuteronomy 10:1-3

The law of Moses written upon
Joshua 8:32

Houses built of
Isaiah 9:10; Amos 5:11

Temple built of
1 Kings 5:17-18; 1 Kings 7:9-12; Matthew 24:2; Luke 19:44; Luke 21:5-6

Prepared in the quarries
1 Kings 6:7

Hewn
Exodus 34:1; Deuteronomy 10:1; 1 Kings 5:17; 1 Kings 6:36; 1 Kings 7:9; 2 Kings 12:12; 2 Kings 22:6; 1 Chronicles 22:2; 2 Chronicles 34:11; Lamentations 3:9

Sawn
1 Kings 7:9

Hewers of
1 Kings 5:18; 2 Kings 12:12; 1 Chronicles 22:15

City walls built of
Nehemiah 4:3

Memorial pillars of
Genesis 28:18-22; Genesis 31:45-52; Joshua 4:2-9; Joshua 4:20-24; Joshua 24:25; 1 Samuel 7:12

Great, as landmarks:

Abel
1 Samuel 6:18

Ezel
1 Samuel 20:19

Zoheleth
1 Kings 1:9

Cast upon accursed ground
2 Kings 3:19; 2 Kings 3:25

Used:

Used:
Joshua 8:31

For weighing
Leviticus 19:36

For closing sepulchers
Matthew 27:60; Mark 15:46; Mark 16:3

Sepulchers hewn in
Matthew 27:60; Mark 15:46; Mark 16:3

Idols made of
Deuteronomy 4:28; Deuteronomy 28:36; Deuteronomy 28:64; Deuteronomy 29:17; 2 Kings 19:18; Isaiah 37:19; Ezekiel 20:32

Great, in Solomon's temple
1 Kings 5:17-18; 1 Kings 7:9-12

Magnificent, in Herod's
Mark 13:1

Skill in throwing:

General references
Judges 20:16; 1 Chronicles 12:2
Sling; Adamant; Chalcedony; Marble; Onyx; Pillar

Figurative:

General references
Genesis 49:24; Zech 3:9

Of temptation, stone of stumbling
Isaiah 8:14; Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:8

Of Christ, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation
Isaiah 28:16

Of Christ's rejection, the rejected corner stone
Psalms 118:22; Matthew 21:42-44; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17-18; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:4

The true foundation
Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 21:14

Of Christ, the water of life
1 Corinthians 10:4

Of the impenitent heart
Ezekiel 36:26

Of the witness of the Spirit, the white stone
Revelation 2:17

Symbolic of the kingdom of Christ
Daniel 2:34; Daniel 2:45

Precious:

In the breastplate and ephod
Exodus 28:9-21; Exodus 39:6-14

Voluntary offerings of, by the Israelites for the breastplate and ephod
Exodus 35:27

Exported from:

Sheba
1 Kings 10:2; 1 Kings 10:10; 2 Chronicles 9:9-10; Ezekiel 27:22

Ophir
1 Kings 10:11

Partial catalogue of
Ezekiel 28:13

Seen in the foundation of the New Jerusalem in John's apocalyptic vision
Revelation 21:19-20

In kings' crowns
2 Samuel 12:30; 1 Chronicles 20:2

Figurative
Isaiah 54:11-12
Agate; Amethyst; Beryl; Carbuncle; Chrysolyte; Chrysoprasus; Coral; Crystal; Diamond; Emerald; Jacinth; Jasper; Ligure; Ruby; Sapphire; Sardius; Sardonyx; Topaz

Besides the ordinary uses to which stones were applied, we may mention that large stones were set up to commemorate any remarkable event. (Genesis 28:18; 35:14; 31:45; Joshua 4:9; 1 Samuel 7:12) Such stones were occasionally consecrated By anointing. (Genesis 28:18) Heaps of stones were piled up on various occasions, as in token of a treaty, (Genesis 31:47) or over the grave of some notorious offender. (Joshua 7:26; 8:29; 2 Samuel 18:17) The "white stone" noticed in (Revelation 2:17) has been variously regarded as referring to the pebble of acquittal used in the Greek courts; to the lot cast in elections in Greece to both these combined; to the stones in the high priest's breastplate; to the tickets presented to the victor at the public games; or, lastly, to the custom of writing on stones. The notice in (Zechariah 12:3) of the "burdensome stone" is referred by Jerome to the custom of lifting stones as an exercise of strength, comp. Ecclus. 6.21; but it may equally well be explained of a large corner-stone as a symbol of strength. (Isaiah 28:16) Stones are used metaphorically to denote hardness or insensibility, (1 Samuel 25:37; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26) as well as firmness or strength. (Genesis 49:24) The members of the Church are called "living stones," as contributing to rear that living temple in which Christ, himself "a living stone," is the chief or head of the corner. (Ephesians 2:20-22; 1 Peter 2:4-8)

Frequently referred to (1 Kings 10:2; 2 Chronicles 3:6; 9:10; Revelation 18:16; 21:19). There are about twenty different names of such stones in the Bible. They are figuratively introduced to denote value, beauty, durability (Song of Solomon 5:14; Isaiah 54:11, 12; Lamentations 4:7).

Precious stones are frequently alluded to in Scriptures; they were known and very highly valued in the earliest times. The Tyrians traded in precious stones supplied by Syria. (Ezekiel 27:16) The merchants of Sheba and Raamah in south Arabia, and doubtless India and Ceylon supplied the markets of Tyre with various precious stones. The art of engraving on precious stones was known from the very earliest times. (Genesis 38:18) The twelve atones of the breastplate were engraved each one with the name of one of the tribes. (Exodus 28:17-21) It is an undecided question whether the diamond was known to the early nations of antiquity. The Authorized Version gives if as the rendering of the Heb. yahalom , but it is probable that the jasper is intended. Precious stones are used in Scripture in a figurative sense, to signify value, beauty durability, etc., in those objects with which they are compared. See (Solomon 5:14; Isaiah 54:11,12; Lamentations 4:7; Revelation 4:3; 21:10,21)

STONES-CAST, STONES-THROW, noun [stone and cast or throw.] The distance which a stone may be thrown by the hand.

STONES-MICKLE, noun A bird.

STONE-SQUARER, noun [stone and square.] One who forms stones into squares. 1 Kings 5:1.

STONES-CAST, STONES-THROW noun [stone and cast or throw.] The distance which a stone may be thrown by the hand.

STONE-STILL, adjective [stone and still.] Still as a stone; perfectly still or motionless.

STONE-WALL, noun [stone and wall.] A wall built of stones.

STONE-WARE, noun [stone and ware.] A species of potters ware of a coarse kind, glazed and baked.

STONE-WORK, noun [stone and work.] Work or wall consisting of stone; masons work of stone.