Luke 19:40 · Bible study
Luke 19:40 Commentary: The Stones Would Cry Out
Greek · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
What did Jesus mean by 'the stones would cry out'? Explore this verse's meaning, context, and commentary. A study for pastors and serious students.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Jesus insists the praise offered to him as Messiah is inevitable and appropriate; no opposition can silence it.
- Key words: σιωπάω (to be silent, hold one's peace) and κράζω (to cry out, shout); λίθοι (stones) as inanimate objects that could be empowered to speak.
- Main debate: Whether the statement is proverbial (Barnes), a literal promise of divine intervention (Gill), or an allusion to Habakkuk 2:11 (Cambridge Bible, Jamieson).
- Theological theme: The sovereignty of God in ensuring that Christ receives honor; creation's role in worship; the danger of rejecting God's moment of visitation.
- Best use: Palm Sunday sermons, teaching on worship and witness, or studies on the triumphal entry and Jesus' identity as King.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
“I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”
KJV King James Version 1769
And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And he answered and said, I tell you that, if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
and he answering said to them, `I say to you, that, if these shall be silent, the stones will cry out!'
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And he answering said to them, I say unto you, If these shall be silent, the stones will cry out.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
To whom he said: I say to you that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y él respondiendo, les dijo: Os digo que si éstos callaren, las piedras clamarán.
E respondendo ele, disse-lhes: Digo-vos, que se estes se calarem, as pedras clamariam.
Et il répondit: Je vous le dis, s’ ils se taisent, les pierres crieront!
Er antwortete und sprach zu ihnen: Ich sage euch: Wo diese werden schweigen, so werden die Steine schreien.
En Hij, antwoordende, zeide tot hen: Ik zeg ulieden, dat, zo deze zwijgen, de stenen haast roepen zullen.
Ed egli, rispondendo, disse: Io vi dico che se costoro si tacciono, le pietre grideranno.
A on odpowiadając, rzekł im: Powiadam wam, jeźliby ci milczeli, wnet kamienie wołać będą.
Но Он сказал им в ответ: сказываю вам, что если они умолкнут, то камни возопиют.
耶穌 說：「我告訴 你們，若是 他們 閉口不說，這些石頭 必要呼叫起來。」
And he said in answer, I say to you, if these men keep quiet, the very stones will be crying out.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · Luke 19:40
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators largely agree that Jesus uses strong, vivid language to insist that praise for him as Messiah cannot be stopped. Barnes calls it a 'proverbial expression', not meant literally, but showing that the occasion is too joyful to suppress. Gill argues that it was impossible for the acknowledgment to fail; if the disciples were silent, God would make the stones cry out or even turn stones into worshippers. Clarke connects the event directly to Zechariah 9:9, calling the praise a necessary fulfillment of prophecy. The Cambridge Bible notes an allusion to Habakkuk 2:11, where a stone cries out against injustice. Wesley sums up: God's power will not return empty, he will raise up unlikely instruments. The shared core: at this moment, public acclamation of Jesus as King was divinely appointed and absolutely inevitable.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Proverbial: Barnes and Poole treat the phrase as a known proverb for inevitability, not a literal prediction.
- Literal divine intervention: Gill argues God could make stones speak or turn stones into worshippers, as in raising children to Abraham from stones (Matthew 3:9).
- Prophetic allusion to Habakkuk: The Cambridge Bible and Jamieson note the echo of Habakkuk 2:11, where stones cry out against injustice.
- Gentile inclusion: Gill explicitly reads the stones as representing Gentiles who will praise the Messiah when Israel is silent.
What is clear: Jesus affirms that the praise offered to him as Messiah is appropriate, necessary, and cannot ultimately be suppressed; the event of his entry into Jerusalem must be celebrated.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Proverbial or Literal? | Jesus uses strong, graphic language to stress that praise must happen. | Barnes sees it as a proverbial exaggeration never meant literally. Gill and Clarke leave room for literal divine action, God could make stones cry out or convert them into worshippers. |
| Allusion to Habakkuk 2:11? | Many commentators note a verbal echo of Habakkuk's 'the stone will cry out of the wall.' | The Cambridge Bible and Jamieson-Fausset-Brown treat it as a deliberate allusion. Barnes and others treat it as a general proverb without direct dependence on that specific passage. |
| Inclusion of the Gentiles? | The verse points to God's power to raise up witnesses from unexpected sources. | Gill explicitly reads the stones as a symbol of the Gentiles (people compared to stones, especially by Jews). Other commentators focus more on creation's general testimony. |
| Focus on the Disciples' Praise? | The disciples' acclamation is shown to be appropriate and even required. | Clarke and Wesley emphasize that the event is so significant that silence would be improper. Poole and the Geneva Bible stress the sovereignty of God in bringing about this moment. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Jesus is making his final approach to Jerusalem, riding a colt over cloaks spread on the road. The crowd of disciples is shouting lines from Psalm 118: 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.' This is the Triumphal Entry, just days before the Passover, when Jerusalem swells with pilgrims and messianic expectations run high. Some Pharisees in the crowd bristle at the noise. They see a Galilean preacher accepting royal honors, and they tell Jesus to silence his followers.
Jesus' reply is layered. The location matters: the Mount of Olives, Bethphage, Bethany, places tied to prophetic expectation (Zechariah 14:4). The crowd's cry is not spontaneous; it echoes the Hallel psalms sung at feasts. But the Pharisees want order. Jesus instead declares that the praise is necessary. The surrounding context (vv. 41, 44) adds tension: as he says these words, Jesus is about to weep over Jerusalem and pronounce judgment on her for rejecting this moment of peace.
Poole's annotations from the period note that 'the time is come, set by my Father for the publication of my kingdom.' The stones themselves, the flinty hills of Jerusalem, the stones of the temple that would later be thrown down, become witnesses. In a culture where proverbs about stones crying out (Habakkuk 2:11) already existed, Jesus borrows the idiom to underline a truth: what is happening here is too big for human silence. Either these disciples will praise him, or creation itself will take up the song.
Textual Notes
The Greek text of Luke 19:40 is stable across the major manuscript traditions. No significant variants are noted in the consulted sources. The future indicative verbs (σιωπήσουσιν, κράξουσιν) appear consistently, conveying a simple future condition: if these will be silent, the stones will cry out.
Reception History
In the early church, this verse was used to demonstrate Christ's lordship over creation, if even stones could be made to speak, then all things are subject to him. Medieval interpreters often read it as a warning against those who try to suppress the praise of God. Reformation-era commentators such as Calvin and the Geneva Bible emphasized God's sovereignty: the moment for declaring the Messiah had come, and nothing could stop it. More recent readings have drawn out the Gentile inclusion theme (stones as outsiders) and the connection to the judgment on Jerusalem in the verses that follow. Across traditions, the verse has been seen as a call to bold worship and a reminder that God will have a people to declare his praise, whether by human lips or by the created order itself.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Praise is the right response to Jesus. The disciples are not overreacting. Their joy matches the occasion: the King has come.
- Silence is not an option. Jesus refuses to rebuke them. To suppress this praise would be to fight against what God is doing.
- God will not be left without a witness. If human voices fail, even creation will find a way to speak. God's purposes do not depend on our cooperation.
Five-point outline
- The setting: Jesus enters Jerusalem as King, fulfilling prophecy (Zechariah 9:9, implied).
- The conflict: Pharisees demand silence; they see blasphemy where others see worship.
- The claim: Jesus says the praise is inevitable and appropriate, it cannot be stopped.
- The warning: Rejecting this moment (as Jerusalem will, vv. 41, 44) leads to tragedy.
- The hope: God can use any means, even stones, to declare his glory. No opposition can ultimately silence him.
Illustration hooks
- A crowd at a major sporting event that cannot be hushed; the energy is too big to contain. That unstoppable noise is a shadow of the joy that should greet the King.
- A child who bursts out with a secret because the truth is too exciting. Sometimes praise spills out before we can think about decorum.
- A courtroom where a key witness is silenced, but the evidence itself points so strongly that the verdict is obvious. Creation itself testifies to its Maker.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “Does God really need my praise? If I don’t praise him, will he force it from someone else?”
- “What if I don’t feel like praising God? Is that a sin, or just a season?”
- “How do I know when to be loud about my faith and when to be quiet and wise?”
Leading a Discussion
In this passage, the Pharisees try to silence the disciples' praise during Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Jesus responds with a startling claim: if the disciples were silent, the stones themselves would cry out. This discussion will help your group explore what Jesus meant and what it means for how we worship and witness today.
Discussion questions
- What was happening when the Pharisees made their request? Re-read verses 36, 39. What emotions do you see in the crowd?
- Why do you think the Pharisees wanted the disciples silenced? What might they have feared or misunderstood about Jesus?
- Jesus says, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.” How do you understand this statement? Is it a proverb, a threat, a promise, or something else?
- Barnes calls this a “proverbial expression.” Gill says it means God could make stones speak or even turn them into worshippers. Which reading makes more sense to you, and why?
- Look at the surrounding verses (Luke 19:41, 44). How does Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem change the tone of verse 40? Why did it matter that the city missed this moment?
- What does this passage teach us about the nature of worship? Is it ever wrong to express praise publicly?
- If the stones really can cry out (or if God can raise up other witnesses), what does that mean for how seriously we take our own witness? Does it free us or challenge us?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 96:11 | Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, and its fullness! |
| Psalms 98:7 | Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein. |
| Psalms 98:9 | Let them sing before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. |
| Psalms 114:1 | When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language, |
| Psalms 114:8 | who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters. |
| Isaiah 55:12 | For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands. |
| Habakkuk 2:11 | For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it. |
| Matthew 3:9 | Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
7 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes treats the phrase as proverbial, not literal. He argues it does not mean stones would become conscious. Instead, the coming of the Messiah is such a joyful and important event that celebration is fitting and cannot be suppressed. It would be improper to attempt to silence the people.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Cambridge Bible Schools notes that the phrase about stones crying out alludes to Habakkuk 2:11, where a stone cries out from a wall in a context of judgment on covetousness and cruelty. This connects Jesus' warning to the prophetic theme of divine justice against oppression.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note explains that if people refused to praise Christ, even lifeless stones would be compelled to declare his glory. Creation itself must acknowledge its Creator, and human silence cannot suppress the worship due to him.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill stresses that Jesus spoke with absolute certainty: if the disciples fell silent, creation itself would have to cry out. He reads the phrase as showing the impossibility of praise being suppressed, and hints that stones may symbolise Gentiles whom God could raise up to confess the Messiah.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB observes a deliberate shift: after earlier discouraging demonstrations, Jesus on this occasion yields to the crowd's acclaim with a mysterious satisfaction. This praise was so integral to His Messianic dignity that if the multitude had withheld it, the very stones would have been forced to cry out.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry draws attention to how willingly Christ pressed ahead toward Jerusalem, fully aware of the suffering awaiting Him there. Jesus did not hesitate or need persuasion; He led the way, ascending deliberately, showing His readiness to give Himself up for sinners.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley warns that if the current witnesses fall silent, God will not be left without a voice. He will use the most unlikely instruments, even lifeless stones, to declare his praise. This is because the power of God never returns empty or fails to accomplish its purpose.