Luke 19:40
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“I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
the stones, &c.--Hitherto the Lord had discouraged all demonstrations in His favor; latterly He had begun an opposite course; on this one occasion He seems to yield His whole soul to the wide and deep acclaim with a mysterious satisfaction, regarding it as so necessary a part of the regal dignity in which as Messiah He for this last time entered the city, that if not offered by the vast multitude, it would have been wrung out of the stones rather than be withheld (Hab 2:11).
Open source ↗In this chapter we have, I. The conversion of Zaccheus the publican at Jericho (Luk 19:1-10). II. The parable of the pounds which the king entrusted with his servants, and of his rebellious citizens (v. 11-27). III. Christ's riding in triumph (such triumph as it was) into Jerusalem; and his lamentation in prospect of the ruin of that city (v. 28-44). IV. His teaching in the temple, and casting the buyers and sellers out of it (Luk 19:45-48).
Open source ↗19:40 Compare Isa 55:12, in which nature is said to rejoice at the coming of God’s salvation, and Hab 2:11, in which the stones of the walls cry out against Babylon.
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.
You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea resound, and all that fills it.
if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.