Psalm 118:22's prophetic image, applied to Christ by Christ Himself: The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. The image draws on ancient construction: a stone deemed unfit by the foremen, set aside as waste, but later discovered to be precisely the stone needed for the foundational corner where two walls meet and bear the weight of the whole structure. Christ applies the verse to Himself after the parable of the wicked vinedressers (Matt 21:42; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 20:17). Peter expounds the image (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:6-7) and Paul cites Isaiah 28:16 in the same context. The religious leaders of Israel were the builders who rejected the cornerstone — an irony Scripture does not let pass: the very experts in building the house of God refused the only stone that could hold it. Rejection by the qualified evaluators is not always evidence of unworthiness; sometimes it is the diagnosis of the evaluators.