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Feb 16, 2022 · In the Western tradition, many phrases and terms from the Bible are utilized as allegory, metaphors, idioms, or simply to describe the characteristics of a known person or event. They have become an essential element of literature and descriptions of everyday life situations.
- Rebecca Denova
- Escaping by the skin of your teeth. When a movie hero makes a narrow escape, just avoiding the imminent danger, we say they escaped by the thinnest of margins – the skin of their teeth.
- A house divided against itself cannot stand. This quote is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, like most everything on the Internet. But while the 16th president of the United States did use the phrase in a famous speech, he didn’t invent it.
- A drop in the bucket. It’s an idiom that means something that is small or insignificant. One slice of pizza is a “drop in the bucket” compared to the amount of pizza a student ministry consumes in a year.
- Behemoth. As football season gets underway, announcers will speak of offensive linemen being “behemoths.” It means someone or something really big and massive.
Sep 21, 2021 · This list of Biblical idioms is by no means complete, but we have chosen some of the most commonly used phrases, along with examples so you can see how to use them, as well as the Bible verses from which they originate.
- AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR. Do something at the eleventh hour, and you do it at the very last minute. It’s possible that this phrase might have appeared in the language without any Biblical intervention, but the OED nevertheless credits it to the Parable of the Labourers in the Gospel of St Matthew (20:1-16), which metaphorically advises that no matter what time you start work the reward will always be the same.
- AT YOUR WIT’S END. The earliest reference to being at your wit’s end in English dates back to the late 14th century. The phrase comes from Psalm 107, in which “they that go down to the sea in ships,” namely sailors and seafarers, are described as being thrown around by a storm at sea so that, “they reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end” (107: 23-27).
- THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND. The Roman poet Horace used his own version of the blind leading the blind in the 1st century BC, suggesting that it was already a fairly well known saying by the time it appeared in the New Testament: “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind.
- BY THE SKIN OF YOUR TEETH. The Old Testament Book of Job records how Job is put through a series of trials, but eventually escapes “with the skin of my teeth” (19:20).
Sep 5, 2024 · Here are some examples of idiomatic phrases in the Bible: Know. A literal translation of yada (Hebrew) and ginóskó (Greek) gives us the sense of “knowing.” Both words are used as an idiom for “sexual intercourse.” Adam “knew” his wife (Genesis 4:1, ESV). Joseph did not “know” Mary until after Jesus was born (Matthew 1:25, ESV ...
Mar 6, 2019 · If you’re not reading the Bible regularly, take a look at these English-language phrases and their original meanings: At the eleventh hour. In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Jesus tells a...
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These sayings were originally written in the period from more than a thousand years BC to the First Century AD. "A fool and his money are soon parted" -- Proverbs 21:20. "A law unto themselves" -- Romans 2:14. "A little bird told me" -- Ecclesiastes 10:20.
