English idioms based on the Bible

“The Sun says Aston Villa ‘refused to give up the ghost’. Wendy Richard calls her EastEnders character Pauline Fowler ‘the salt of the earth’. The England cricket coach tells reporters, ‘You can’t put words in my mouth’. Daily Mirror fashion pages call Tilda Swinton ‘a law unto herself’.” “King James Bible: How it changed the way we speak,” BBC News Services

Many English language idioms and phrases are based on the Bible. These terms from the Bible are passed on as elements in our law and literature, passed down in everyday speech, repeated in news and entertainment media, and included as lyrics in our songs. Sometimes the words come directly out of the King James Bible; sometimes they are based on a Bible phrase or story (e.g., The Parable of the Good Samaritan). Those using the idioms may have only learned them from others rather than the Bible, but they can be traced back to the Bible. Those using the idioms may not even know they are from the Bible. Certainly, the words themselves existed prior to the translation of the Bible into English – obviously, they were already in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. However, their primary saturation in everyday English language comes via of the longstanding dominance of the King James Bible in the English language.

Sometimes the words used are from or related to the Bible, without possessing the Bible meaning. When someone in general conversation says a person “fell from grace,” they are not likely speaking theologically. They mean that a person has lost his or her reputation, status, or rank. Sometimes the use of the phrase may be contrary to the Bible meaning. Though it may be oft repeated that “money is the root of all evil,” the King James Bible says “the love of” money is the root of all evil. Our phrase “on the straight and narrow” picks up the sound of a biblical word (“strait”), but neither the spelling nor the exact meaning. Sometimes the phrases are used in a humorous vein (going to “the land of Nod” for sleep, especially an adult falling asleep in church meeting) or even slightly irreverent way (“let there be light” for turning on a light switch).

This is a fairly long list of verses. I divide it into verse from the Old Testament and verses from the New Testament. Sometimes the background of the idiom or phrase can be found in more than one Bible verse. However, for brevity of listing, I only reference one.

Old Testament

• Genesis 1:3 “Let there be light”
• Genesis 3:3 “of the fruit of the tree…God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it” (forbidden fruit)
• Genesis 3:19 “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (in the sweat of your brow)
• Genesis 3:19 “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (ashes to ashes, dust to dust)
• Genesis 4:3 “it came to pass”
• Genesis 4:9 “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
• Genesis 4:16 “the land of Nod”
• Genesis 5:27 “all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years” (as old as Methuselah)
• Exodus 3:8 “a land flowing with milk and honey”
• Exodus 4:15 “put words in his mouth”
• Exodus 32:2-4 “Break off the golden earrings…made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods” (a golden calf)
• Leviticus 16:10 “be the scapegoat”
• Numbers 14:34 “breach of promise.”
• Numbers 22:31 “fell flat on his face.”
• Deuteronomy 32:10 “the apple of his eye.”
• Judges 14:3 “Philistines” (i.e., narrow-minded persons hostile to culture)
• 1 Samuel 13:14 “a man after his own heart”
• 1 Samuel 17:23 “Goliath…and David” (usually reverse;, the victory of the underdog, the triumph of the unexpected)
• 2 Samuel 1:19 “how are the mighty fallen”
• 2 Samuel 15:6 “stole the hearts” (stole his/her heart)
• 1 Kings 4:34 “the wisdom of Solomon”
• 1 Kings 21:25 “whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.” (a Jezebel; old Jezebel)
• 2 Kings 19:30 “take root”
• 2 Kings 20:1 “Set thine house in order” (put your house in order)
• Job 19:20 “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh” (nothing but skin and bones)
• Job 19:20 “escaped with the skin of my teeth.”
• Job 19:28 “the root of the matter”
• Job 28:13 “the land of the living.”
• Job 40:7 “Gird up thy loins”
• Job 40:15 “behemoth” (used to reference something or someone really big)
• Psalm 8:2 “Out of the mouth of babes”
• Psalm 11:6 “fire and brimstone”
• Psalms 34:18 “a broken heart”
• Psalm 72:9 “enemies shall lick the dust.”
• Psalm 90:12 “teach us to number our days” (our days are numbered)
• Psalm 107:27 “at their wits’ end.”
• Proverbs 13:24 “He that spareth his rod hateth his son” (spare the rod, spoil the child)
• Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth…before a fall.” (before a fall)
• Ecclesiastes 1:9 “no new thing under the sun.” (nothing new under the sun)
• Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose” (a time for everything)
• Ecclesiastes 10:1 “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour” (a fly in the ointment)
• Ecclesiastes 10:20 “a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.” (a little bird told me)
• Isaiah 1:18 “white as snow”
• Isaiah 11:6 “the lamb…and the young lion” (the lion and the lamb)
• Isaiah 28:12 “cause the weary to rest… yet they would not hear.” (no rest for the weary)
• Isaiah 40:15 “a drop of a bucket”
• Isaiah 52:8 “see eye to eye”
• Isaiah 53:7 “as a lamb to the slaughter”
• Isaiah 57:21 “There is no peace… to the wicked.” (no rest for the wicked)
• Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine” (rise and shine)
• Isaiah 65:5 “holier than thou”
• Jeremiah 13:23 “Can…the leopard [change] his spots?”
• Ezekiel 1:16 “a wheel in the middle of a wheel.”
• Ezekiel 18:2 “sour grapes”
• Daniel 2:33 “his feet …part of clay.” (feet of clay)
• Daniel 5:5 “a man’s hand…wrote…upon the plaister of the wall” (handwriting on the wall)
• Daniel 5:27 “weighed in the balances, and…found wanting”
• Daniel 6:7 “cast into the den of lions.” (thrown in the lion’s den)
• Zechariah 9:10 “to the ends of the earth.”

New Testament

• Matthew 5:13 “salt of the earth”
• Matthew 5:38 “An eye for an eye”
• Matthew 5:39 “whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (turn the other cheek)
• Matthew 5:41 “compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain” (go the extra mile)
• Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters”
• Matthew 7:14 “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way” (on the straight and narrow)
• Matthew 7:15 “come to you in sheep’s clothing…inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (a wolf in sheep’s clothing)
• Matthew 7:6 “neither cast ye your pearls before swine” (pearls before swine)
• Matthew 15:14 “if the blind lead the blind”
• Matthew 16:3 “the signs of the times”
• Matthew 17:20 “say unto this mountain, Remove” (moving mountains)
• Matthew 19:24 “the eye of a needle”
• Matthew 20:9 “the eleventh hour”
• Matthew 23:24 “strain at a gnat”
• Matthew 23:24 “swallow a camel.”
• Matthew 26:52 “they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” (live by the sword, die by the sword)
• Matthew 27:24 “Pilate…washed his hands before the multitude” (wash your hands [of something])
• Mark 2:22 “new wine into old bottles”
• Mark 3:21 “He is beside himself.”
• Mark 3:25 “a house…divided…cannot stand.”
• Mark 6:25 “give me…in a charger the head of John the Baptist.” (head on a platter)
• Mark 10:9 “What…God hath joined together”
• Mark 10:25 “a camel to go through the eye of a needle”
• Mark 14:44 “Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he” (the kiss of death)
• Luke 2:7 “no room…in the inn.”
• Luke 3:16 “baptize you…with fire (a baptism of fire)
• Luke 4:4 “man shall not live by bread alone”
• Luke 4:23 “Physician, heal thyself”
• Luke 8:5 “fell by the way side”
• Luke 10:33 “a certain Samaritan…had compassion on him” (a Good Samaritan)
• Luke 12:19 “eat, drink, and be merry.”
• Luke 12:28 “ye of little faith”
• Luke 15:27 “killed the fatted calf”
• Luke 17:2 “a millstone…hanged about his neck”
• John 6:31 “eat manna…bread from heaven” (manna from heaven)
• John 8:7 “let him first cast a stone at her.” (cast the first stone)
• John 8:32 “the truth shall make you free.”
• John 19:5 “Behold the man!”
• John 19:17 “he bearing his cross” (my/your cross to beart)
• John 19:30 “gave up the ghost.”
• Acts 9:5 “kick against the pricks”
• Acts 20:35 “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (better to give than receive)
• Romans 2:14 “a law unto themselves”
• Romans 7:6 “from the law…of the letter.” (letter of the law)
• Romans 13:1 “the powers that be”
• 1 Corinthians 13:12 “see through a glass, darkly”
• 1 Corinthians 15:52 “in the twinkling of an eye”
• 2 Corinthians 11:19 “suffer fools gladly”
• 2 Corinthians 12:7 “a thorn in the flesh” (thorn in my side)
• Galatians 5:4 “ye are fallen from grace.” (a fall from grace)
• Galatians 6:7 “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (you reap what you sow)
• 1 Thessalonians 1:3 “labour of love”
• 1 Timothy 6:10 “the love of money is the root of all evil” (money is the root of all evil)
• 1 Timothy 6.12 “Fight the good fight”
• Hebrews 2:14 “flesh and blood”
• Hebrews 11:4 “he being dead yet speaketh.”
• James 3:6 “the course of nature” (let nature take its course)
• Revelation 6:2-8 “behold a white horse : and he that sat on him… red…a black horse…a pale horse: and his name that sat on him” (the four horsemen)
• Revelation 7:1 “the four corners of the earth”

This list contains 118 words or phrases from the Old & New Testaments of the King James Bible – all of which in my lifetime I have heard, some more & some less (and some I have said myself).

David Crystal, Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Bangor, Wales, produced a book on the subject. The title is Begat: the King James Bible & the English Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) I have not seen or read it, but a review of the book says that Crystal found 257 biblical expressions that he thinks are current in modern English.

Note: Sometimes I used ellipsis (…) to give a closer sense of how the words are stated in English idiom. Sometimes I place to the right in parentheses () the way the idiom is most often expressed.