For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the beam from the timbers will answer it.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
- KJV For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
- BSB For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.
- NASB “For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the framework.
- NLT The very stones in the walls cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Even the stones and beams of the unjustly built house will cry out in testimony against its builder. It vividly affirms that injustice cannot be hidden, for creation itself witnesses against it.
Overview
The very materials of a house built on bloodshed are personified as bearing witness to the crime. No oppression is truly secret before God, who hears even the silent testimony of stone and wood. This assurance that evil will be exposed echoes the cry of Abel's blood from the ground and points to the God before whom all things are laid bare and finally judged.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Luke 19:40He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”
- Josh 24:27Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all Yahweh’s words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.”
- Job 31:38–40If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;
- Jas 5:3–4Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.
- Gen 4:10Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
- Heb 12:24to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
- Rev 6:10They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
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Christ at the center
'The righteous shall live by his faith' (2:4) becomes a cornerstone of the gospel in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews — the faith that lays hold of Christ.
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Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.