A Scripture Jesus quoted
The Stone the Builders Rejected
After telling the parable of the wicked tenants who killed the owner's son, Jesus asked the leaders whether they had never read the psalm: the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone. He turned their own Scripture against their plot, foretelling that the one they would reject was the very foundation God had chosen.
“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”Psalm 118:22
“Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?”Matthew 21:42
The Scripture in its own place
This line rises from a psalm of thanksgiving and procession, likely sung at a festival as worshipers approached the temple. The singer recounts distress and deliverance, being surrounded by enemies yet saved by the Lord. Then comes the striking image of a stone the builders discarded as useless, which God nonetheless made the head of the corner, the crucial stone anchoring the whole structure. It is marveled at as the Lord's doing, a reversal too wonderful for human explanation. In its setting the stone may picture Israel or her king, once despised among the nations yet exalted by God. The psalm celebrates a divine pattern: what the world rejects, God chooses and makes central.
How and when Jesus used it
Jesus quoted this verse in the temple during His final week, immediately after the parable of the vineyard whose tenants beat the servants and murdered the heir. The parable thinly veiled the leaders' own rejection of the prophets and their coming rejection of Him. He capped it with the psalm about the rejected stone, applying it to Himself: the builders, Israel's leaders, would cast Him aside, yet God would make Him the cornerstone. He warned that this stone would become both foundation and judgment. The leaders perceived He spoke about them and sought to arrest Him, proving the very rejection He had just foretold from their own Scriptures.
What it reveals about Jesus
Jesus reads the psalm as prophecy of Himself, the rejected stone whom God would vindicate and exalt. He understands His coming death not as defeat but as the fulfillment of a divine pattern written long before. This reveals a Savior who interprets His rejection through Scripture and speaks with the authority to apply the psalm to His own fate. He is the cornerstone of God's new work, the foundation on which everything is built, precisely because and not in spite of being cast aside. In quoting this line He calmly foretells His murder and His triumph together, reading His whole story in a single ancient verse.
Questions people ask
What does the stone the builders rejected mean?
It comes from Psalm 118:22, picturing a stone discarded as useless that God makes the cornerstone anchoring the whole building. It celebrates God's pattern of choosing what the world rejects. Jesus applied it to Himself after the parable of the wicked tenants, foretelling that Israel's leaders would reject Him, yet God would exalt Him as the foundation.
Why did Jesus quote this psalm about the cornerstone?
He quoted it in the temple during His final week to expose the leaders' rejection of Him and to foretell His vindication. After the parable of the murderous tenants, the psalm named Him as the rejected stone whom God would make central. The leaders understood He spoke of them and sought His arrest, fulfilling the very rejection He described.