In the scriptures: Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “what stands written in the Holy Scriptures.” This verse is a rhetorical question, and for many languages it will require shifting to a statement: “You have surely read the passage of scripture which says….” There were similar questions at 12.3 and 19.4, and translators should see there for further suggestions. The scripture referred to is Psalm 118.22-23, and the quotation derives from the Septuagint. Matthew apparently intends an analogy: “The landowner’s son is rejected and put to death, while here a stone is rejected as worthless, but it turns out to be the most important stone of all.”

Rejected may require further definition, as in Good News Translation: (“rejected as worthless”) or Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition (“thrown away as useless”).

Head of the corner (“cornerstone,” New English Bible, An American Translation), that is, the main foundation stone set at the corner of the building to align it accurately, is one possible interpretation. But the meaning may also be “keystone” (Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) or “capstone” (New International Version), the last stone placed in the arch so as to lock the other stones together. Good News Translation and Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition assume a more neutral position (“the most important of all”), since scholarship is sharply divided on this issue.

The word builders is generally enough, in context, to make it clear that the stone in question is rejected or accepted for use in a building. However, on occasion rejected is translated as “thrown away as of no use in building,” and head of the corner is rendered as “the most important of all in the building.”

Has become may be expressed as “has turned out to be” or “is in fact.”

This was the Lord’s doing (Good News Translation “This was done by the Lord”) may require the shift to an active construction, as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “The Lord has performed this wonder, and we have seen it.” Another possibility is “It was the Lord who did this.”

It is marvelous in our eyes is a Semitism which may have to be expressed as “how wonderful it is to see it,” “what a great thing this is to see,” or “we have seen what a wonderful thing that is.” It is not that the stone is wonderful; the text says that for the Lord to make the rejected stone become the most important is what causes the wonder.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .