BackgroundPsalm 118 closes the Egyptian Hallel and is by far the most quoted of the six in the New Testament. It is a processional liturgy with multiple voices: a soloist who narrates personal deliverance, a congregation that responds with the refrain "his steadfast love endures forever," gatekeepers who admit the worshiper, and a crowd that greets the procession with "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!" The four Gospels all quote this psalm at Jesus's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9, Luke 19:38, John 12:13), and Jesus himself cites it as a prophecy of his rejection in the Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17). Peter and Paul both pick it up after the resurrection (Acts 4:11, 1 Peter 2:7). It is the climax of the Hallel and likely the last passage Jesus and his disciples sang together before Gethsemane.
Psalm 118: The Stone the Builders Rejected
By Bea Zalel
Psalm 118
- Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.
- Let Israel say, "His loving devotion endures forever."
- Let the house of Aaron say, "His loving devotion endures forever."
- Let those who fear the LORD say, "His loving devotion endures forever."
- In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered and set me free.
- The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
- The LORD is on my side; He is my helper. Therefore I will look in triumph on those who hate me.
- It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
- It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.
- All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- They swarmed around me like bees, but they were extinguished like burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- I was pushed so hard I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
- The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.
- Shouts of joy and salvation resound in the tents of the righteous: "The right hand of the LORD performs with valor!
- The right hand of the LORD is exalted! The right hand of the LORD performs with valor!"
- I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done.
- The LORD disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.
- Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and give thanks to the LORD.
- This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.
- I will give You thanks, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation.
- The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- This is from the LORD, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
- This is the day that the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
- O LORD, save us, we pray. We beseech You, O LORD, cause us to prosper!
- Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.
- The LORD is God; He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
- You are my God, and I will give You thanks. You are my God, and I will exalt You.
- Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.
Theme
Bea Zalel here, and we have arrived at the great closer of the Hallel. Psalm 118 is structured as a procession. It opens and closes with the same liturgical refrain, "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever," and in between a soloist narrates a personal rescue while a congregation responds. "Out of my distress I called on the LORD. The LORD answered me and set me in a broad place." The Hebrew word for "broad place," "merhav," is the opposite of "narrow place," and Egypt in Hebrew is "Mitzrayim," literally "the narrow places." The Hallel that began with the Exodus ends with the Exodus replayed in a single life.
Then comes the famous structural turn. "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes." In its original context the rejected stone is most likely Israel itself, dismissed by surrounding empires and yet established by God. The New Testament writers, working with the conviction that Jesus is Israel concentrated in a single faithful man, hear that line and unanimously apply it to him. Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, and 1 Peter 2:7 all cite this verse, which makes it one of the most heavily attested Old Testament quotations in the New Testament.
The crowd's antiphon is the line we now know best. "Save now, we beseech you, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech you, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!" "Save now" in Hebrew is "hosha-na," Hosanna. All four Gospels (Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9, Luke 19:38, John 12:13) place this psalm on the lips of the crowd as Jesus enters Jerusalem the week of his death. They were singing the closing psalm of the Passover Hallel a few days early. Whether they understood what they were singing is another matter.
And then the last great verse. "This is the day that the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." That line has been printed on countless coffee mugs and now sounds almost saccharine. Recover its setting and the line tightens. It is sung by a procession winding into the temple precincts, by people who have just remembered Egypt and the sea and the rejected stone and the cup of salvation. The day they are rejoicing in is the festival day God has appointed for this remembering. They are not making a generic statement about waking up grateful. They are saying that this specific feast, this specific Passover, this specific deliverance, is God's own gift of a day. Jesus and the disciples almost certainly sang Psalm 118 together as the closing hymn of the Last Supper before walking out to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26). It is the song you sing before Gethsemane.
Discussion questions
- Psalm 118 is structured as a dialogue between soloist and congregation. How does that liturgical shape change the way you read its testimony?
- The Hebrew "merhav" (broad place) is the opposite of "Mitzrayim" (the narrow places, Egypt). How does that wordplay tie the personal rescue of the soloist to the corporate Exodus the Hallel has just retold?
- Read the cornerstone passage (verses 22-23) in its original setting before reading any New Testament citation. Who are the builders and who is the stone if you set the New Testament aside for a moment?
- The cornerstone verse is cited in Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, and 1 Peter 2:7. Why might this single Old Testament verse have become so foundational for early Christian self-understanding?
- All four Gospels place Psalm 118:25-26 on the lips of the Triumphal Entry crowd. What does it mean that Jesus's most public welcome was scripted by a Passover psalm?
- Jesus and the disciples likely sang this psalm together as the closing hymn of the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26). How does that possibility shape your reading of "this is the day that the LORD has made"?
- Where in your life has a stone you rejected, or that others rejected, turned out to be load-bearing?
- The crowd shouts "Hosanna," save now. Did the crowd at the Triumphal Entry understand what they were asking, and what does the gap between their words and their understanding say about how worship can outrun us?
- Verse 27 mentions binding the festival sacrifice to the horns of the altar. How does that liturgical image, which pre-dates Calvary by centuries, frame the Christian reading of Holy Week without overwriting its original context?
- If Psalm 118 was the last song Jesus sang with his friends, what does that tell you about the kind of comfort he chose to take with him into the night, and what songs would you want with you in your own Gethsemanes?
Read this psalm in another translation
The inline text above is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Open in a new tab to compare with a modern licensed translation: