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corners and cornerstones in the Bible

Hebrew: פִנָּה —transliteration: pinnah —meaning: a corner or cornerstone

Hebrew: פֵאָה —transliteration: peah —meaning: corner, side

Hebrew: פָנָה —transliteration: panah —meaning: to turn or corner

Hebrew: זָוִית —transliteration: zavith —meaning: a corner

Hebrew: כָּנָף —transliteration: kanaph —meaning: wing, extremity, edge, fold or corner

Hebrew: פַעַם —transliteration: paam —meaning: a beat, foot, anvil, occurrence or corner

Greek: γωνία —transliteration; gónia —meaning: an angle, a corner

  • The angle of a house (Job 1:19) or a street (Proverbs 7:8).

  • “Corners” in Neh. 9:22 denotes the various districts of the promised land allotted to the Israelites. In Numbers 24:17, the “corners of Moab” denotes the whole land of Moab.

  • The “corner of a field” (Leviticus 19:9; 23:22) is its extreme part, which was not to be reaped.

  • The Jews were prohibited from cutting the “corners,” i.e., the extremities, of the hair and whiskers running round the ears (Leviticus 19:27; 21:5).

  • The “four corners of the Earth” in Isaiah 11:12 and Ezek. 7:2 denotes the whole land.

  • The “corners of the streets” mentioned in Matthew 6:5 means the angles where streets meet so as to form a square or place of public resort.

  • The corner gate of Jerusalem (2 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 26:9) was on the northwest side of the city.

  • Cornerstone (Job 38:6; Isaiah 28:16), a block of great importance in binding together the sides of a building. The “head of the corner” (Psalm 118:22, 23) denotes the coping, the “coign of vantage”, i.e., the topstone of a building. But the word “cornerstone” is sometimes used to denote some person of rank and importance (Isaiah 28:16).

    Our Lord is called the Cornerstone who was set in highest honor (Matthew 21:42). He is also styled “the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6-8). When Zechariah (10:4), speaking of Judah, says, “Out of him came forth the corner,” he is probably to be understood as ultimately referring to the Messiah as the “cornerstone.”

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Article Version: August 27, 2019