The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
⛓ Read Psalm 118 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Quotation2
A formal citation — high verbal volume, often introduced by a saying-formula.
"The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone" (2:7) is a verbatim quotation of Psalm 118:22 LXX (117:22). Part of the stacked stone-testimonia catena; the same text is a primary early-Christian Christological proof (cf. Mark 12:10; Acts 4:11). 'Rejected'/'builders' ties to the rejection theme of v.4.
High confidenceVerse 11 directly quotes Ps 118:22 (LXX 117:22), 'the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,' applied to the crucified-and-raised Jesus and turned polemically on 'you, the builders' (the rulers). High Volume (near-verbatim citation), high Recurrence (the rejected-stone testimonium pervades early Christian usage), and strong Thematic Coherence (rejection-then-vindication mirrors crucifixion-resurrection).
High confidenceAllusion3
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
'Be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes' anticipates the rejected-stone of Psalm 118, which Mark quotes explicitly at 12:10 ('the stone the builders rejected'). The specific language of rejection by the leadership maps onto the builders' rejection, making this a deliberate, recurrent intertext.
High confidenceThe 'chief cornerstone' (akrogoniaios/kephale gonias) echoes 'the stone the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.' The widely-used messianic stone testimonium coheres with the cornerstone designation, though Paul's primary stone-text here is Isaiah 28:16.
Medium confidenceBeing 'rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes' evokes the stone the builders rejected, which Luke cites explicitly at 20:17. Moderate volume here (no quotation yet) but high coherence with Luke's rejection-vindication pattern.
Medium confidenceEcho4
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
The rulers' inability to deny the 'notable miracle' yet their determination to suppress it (vv.16-18) continues the irony of the just-quoted rejected stone (v.11): the builders go on rejecting despite the manifest vindication standing before them in the healed man. A narrative echo of the immediately preceding citation rather than a fresh source.
Low confidenceThe rejected stone made the cornerstone foreshadows the Son of Man rejected then vindicated/raised, part of the prophetic-fulfillment frame. Faint here since unquoted in this pericope. Low confidence.
Low confidenceThe rejected stone supplies a scriptural pattern of the chosen one being despised and rejected, coherent with the Son of Man being 'set at nought.' Mark cites this psalm later (12:10), making its availability and recurrence plausible. The contact here is faint.
Low confidenceThe stumbling-stone/Zion-stone complex of v.32-33 belongs to the broader 'stone' testimonia tradition that also includes 'the stone the builders rejected'; Paul's stone Christology participates in this cluster though he cites only the Isaiah texts here.
Low confidence