Isaiah 28:16

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ¹  a stone in Zion,

an approved ²  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ³ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ⁴ 

Isaiah 54:11

54:11 “O afflicted one, driven away, ⁵  and unconsoled!

Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony

and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

Isaiah 54:1

Zion Will Be Secure

54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!

Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate one are more numerous

than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

Colossians 3:10-11

3:10 and have been clothed with the new man ⁶  that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. 3:11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave ⁷  or free, but Christ is all and in all.

Revelation 21:19-20

21:19 The foundations of the city’s wall are decorated ⁸  with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, ⁹  the fourth emerald, 21:20 the fifth onyx, ¹⁰  the sixth carnelian, ¹¹  the seventh chrysolite, ¹²  the eighth beryl, ¹³  the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, ¹⁴  the eleventh jacinth, ¹⁵  and the twelfth amethyst.

[28:16]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ² tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ³ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[54:11]  ⁵ tn Or, more literally, “windblown, storm tossed.”

[3:10]  ⁶ sn Put off all such things. The commands in vv. 8-9 are based on two reasons given in vv. 9-10 – reasons which are expressed in terms of a metaphor about clothing oneself. Paul says that they have put off the old man and have put on the new man. Two things need to be discussed in reference to Paul’s statement. (1) What is the meaning of the clothing imagery (i.e., the “have put off” and “have been clothed”)? (2) What is the meaning of the old man and the new man? Though some commentators understand the participles “have put off” (v. 9) and “have been clothed” (v. 10) as imperatives (i.e., “put off!” and “put on!”), this use of participles is extremely rare in the NT and thus unlikely here. It is better to take them as having the semantic force of indicatives, and thus they give an explanation of what had happened to the Colossians at the time of their conversion – they had taken off the old man and put on the new when they trusted in Christ (cf. 1:4). While it is difficult to say for certain what the background to Paul’s “clothing” metaphor might be (whether it is primarily Jewish and comes from the OT, or primarily Gentile and comes from some facet of the Greco-Roman religious milieu), it is nonetheless clear, on the basis of Paul’s usage of the expression, that the old man refers to man as he is in Adam and dominated by sin (cf. Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22), while the new man refers to the Christian whose new sphere of existence is in Christ. Though the metaphor of clothing oneself primarily reflects outward actions, there is a distinct inward aspect to it, as the rest of v. 10 indicates: being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. Paul’s point, then, is that Christians should take off their dirty clothing (inappropriate behavior) and put on clean clothing (behavior consistent with knowing Christ) because this has already been accomplished in a positional sense at the time of their conversion (cf. Gal 3:27 with Rom 13:14).

[3:11]  ⁷ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[21:19]  ⁸ tn The perfect participle here has been translated as an intensive (resultative) perfect.

[21:19]  ⁹ sn Agate (also called chalcedony) is a semiprecious stone usually milky or gray in color (L&N 2.32).

[21:20]  ¹⁰ sn Onyx (also called sardonyx) is a semiprecious stone that comes in various colors (L&N 2.35).

[21:20]  ¹¹ sn Carnelian is a semiprecious gemstone, usually red in color (L&N 2.36).

[21:20]  ¹² sn Chrysolite refers to either quartz or topaz, golden yellow in color (L&N 2.37).

[21:20]  ¹³ sn Beryl is a semiprecious stone, usually blue-green or green in color (L&N 2.38).

[21:20]  ¹⁴ sn Chrysoprase is a greenish type of quartz (L&N 2.40).

[21:20]  ¹⁵ sn Jacinth is a semiprecious stone, probably blue in color (also called “hyacinth,” but that translation is not used here because of possible confusion with the flower of the same name). See L&N 2.41.