The Most Well-Known Phrases from the Bible (light-hearted as well as serious)

TheSacredPage.com ^ | Monday, June 28, 2010 | Michael Barber

[Salvation]

Monday, June 28, 2010

The Most Well-Known Phrases from the Bible

Marcel over at the Catholic blog Aggie Catholics has put together a list of some of the most well-known phrases from the Bible. This is a great list. I suspect that some people aren't even aware that these well-known words come from the Bible.

Here are some of my favorites, but do go and read Marcel's whole list:

• 42 - "Can a leopard change his spots?" - Jeremiah 13:23
• 41 - "A man after my own heart" - Samuel 13:14 / Acts 13:22
• 38 - "The powers that be" - Romans 13: 1-2
• 37 - "Drop in the bucket" - Isaiah 40:15
• 32 - "Labor of love" - 1 Thessalonians 1:3
• 25 - "No rest for the wicked" or "No rest for the weary" - Isaiah 57:21
• 23 - "Apple of my eye" - Deuteronomy 2:10 / Zechariah 2:8
• 21 - "All things must pass" or "This too shall pass" - Matthew 24:6-8
• 16 - "Ashes to ashes" - Genesis 3:19
• 14 - "A fly in the ointment" - Ecclesiastes 10:1
• 12 - "Signs of the times" - Matthew 16:3
• 11 - "It is better to give than to receive" - Acts 20:35
• 7 - "How the mighty have fallen" - 2 Samuel 1:19
• 6 - "Bite the dust" - Psalms 72: 9
• 5 - "Sour grapes" - Ezekiel 18:2
• 4 - "The writing on the wall" - Daniel 5:5
• 3 - "At my wit's end" - Psalm 107:27
• 1 - "By the skin of our teeth" - Job 19:20

Posted by Michael Barber at 9:32 PM

[the invisib1e hand]

I noticed the /s after I posted.. :-p

Pity that I had to put it there at all, but I know how thin-skinned everyone is these days.

[the invisib1e hand]

That is, until the printing press.

Luther really leveraged that revolution in information technology.

Nothing new under the sun.

[sportutegrl]

Ecclesiastes 1:9 There is nothing new under the sun.

[John 3_19-21]

Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west......”

Written 4000-5000 years ago and the only way this statement is true is if the writer knew the earth was round.

[Salvation]

some more

20 - "The truth shall make you free" John 8:32

 

27 - "Man does not live by bread alone" - Deuteronomy 8:3 / Matthew 4:4

 

30 - "Fight the good fight" - 1 Timothy 6.12

 

31 - "The root of the matter" - Job 19:28

[PastorJimCM]

“What ails you?” Genesis 21:17
What goes around comes around. Or “Whatever a mans sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7

[mnehring]

I apologize. I am so used to reading so many religion threads these days where there are real knock down fights that it is easy to mistake sarcasm for an attempted insult.

[Salvation]

Good ones. Did you look at the whole list?

[circlecity]

In addition to popular phrases in the bible, I would like to hear of popular Bible phrases that ARE NOT actually in the Bible (or are always misstated). For example I can think of two:

God helps those who help themselves. (nowhere in the Bible)

"Money is the root of all evil". - The Bible actually says "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil.

[Salvation]

You are so right. Good idea!

[the invisib1e hand]

I apologize.

please DON'T.

[GOP_Lady]

Oh, those are fun!

Thanks, dear Salvation.

[cubreporter]

Love that. Very good.

[ClearCase_guy]

God helps those who help themselves. (nowhere in the Bible)

I could be wrong, but I believe this is a moral from one of Aesop's Fables. Since Aesop was a Greek slave, living some centuries before Christ, the "god" in the statement would likely be Zeus. Of course, over time, the expression has become familiar and many people think it's biblical.

[MarkBsnr]

Job 34: 3 For the ear tests words, as the taste does food.

1 Corinthians: 32 "...Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

and 33 Do not be led astray: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

1 Peter 4: 8 Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. 4

[mombonn]

Ecclesiastes 10:20

Don't bad-mouth your leaders, not even under your breath,
And don't abuse your betters, even in the privacy of your home.
Loose talk has a way of getting picked up and spread around.
Little birds drop the crumbs of your gossip far and wide.

Kind of like, "a little birdie told me".

[blues_guitarist]

"(later I'll describe the history of the run-on sentence). "

Now that's funny!

[BenKenobi]

which is why Gutenburg printed the King James Bible, so it would spread far and wide across Europe.

[Grizzled Bear]

A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout. Proverbs 11:22

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. Proverbs 26:11

...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Psalm 145:1

[MarkBsnr]

which is why Gutenburg printed the King James Bible, so it would spread far and wide across Europe.

Ahem. The KJV Bible was in English. Nobody spoke English in Europe in the 1500s, at least of any note. The language of the English court was French from William the Conqueror until nearly 1400. Less than 1% of Europe had any idea what English was, much less spoke it.

Do you have a clue as to what languages the first Bibles that Gutenberg published were in?