petra denotes a rock or rocky mass, used literally and in images of secure foundation, stumbling, and refuge.

The term most often denotes a literal rock, rocky ground, or rocks in settings of seed, tombs, splitting earth, and hiding places. It also appears in foundation imagery and in clauses where a rock is associated with stumbling or identified within spiritual language.

1. Literal rock, rocky ground, or rocks · dominant

   In Luke 8:6 and Luke 8:13, the APB renders seed and hearers as being “on the rock,” where lack of moisture or root is part of the scene. In Mark 15:46 and Matthew 27:60, a tomb is cut in rock, while Matthew 27:51 describes rocks being split and Revelation 6:15 and Revelation 6:16 places people among rocks as they hide and call for concealment.

   Luke 8:6Luke 8:13Mark 15:46Matthew 27:51Matthew 27:60Revelation 6:15
2. Rock as a foundation image · common

   In Matthew 7:24 and Matthew 7:25, the accusative singular form occurs in the house-building comparison: the house is built and founded upon the rock and does not collapse under rain, rivers, and winds. Luke 6:48 likewise places a house’s foundation on the rock, and Matthew 16:18 uses the dative singular form in the clause about building a church “on this rock.”

   Matthew 7:24Matthew 7:25Luke 6:48Matthew 16:18
3. Rock in stumbling or spiritual identification · common

   In 1 Peter 2:8 and Romans 9:33, the singular form occurs in clauses joining a rock with stumbling or offense. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, the APB renders the clause about drinking from a spiritual rock and identifies the rock as the Christ.

   1 Peter 2:8Romans 9:331 Corinthians 10:4

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly presents the term with “rock” or “rocks,” including rocky ground, tombs, foundations, and hiding places. In passages containing “stone” as well as “rock,” the verse is read as a whole, so the individual contribution of the term should not be assigned solely from those English choices.