Common sayings from the Bible

We use Biblical references in our daily language, frequently without realizing it.

Here is a (partial) list of common sayings that come from the Bible

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Old Testament

Direct quotations

Apple of his eye (Ps 17:8)

A little birdie told me (Ec 10:20)

At my wit’s end (Ps 107:27)

Be a man (1 Kg 2:2)

Broken heart (Ps 34:18)

Brother's keeper (Gen 4:9)

By the skin of your teeth (Job 19:20)

Can a leopard change his spots? (Jer 13:23)

A drop in a bucket (Isa 40;15)

Eat, drink & be merry (Ecc 8:15, Lk 12:19)

Ends of the earth (Zec 9:10)

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth (Ex 21:24)

The fat of the land (Gen 45:18)

Fire and brimstone (Ps 11:6; Rev 21:8)

For everything there is a season (Ecc 3:1)

Forbidden fruit (Gen 2: >>

Four corners of the earth (Isa 40:15)

Gird your loins

A good old age (Gen 15:15)

How the mighty have fallen (2 Sam 1:25)

Land of milk and honey

Like a lamb led to slaughter (Isa 53:7; Jer 11:19)

A man after my own heart (1 Sam 13:14)

Man does not live on bread alone (Dt 8:3)

Nothing but skin and bones (Job 19:20)

Nothing new under the sun (Ecc 1:9)

Put your house in order (2 Kg 20:1)

Scapegoat (Lv 16:8)

See eye to eye (Isa 57:21)

Sour grapes (Ez 18:2)

The skin of my teeth (Job 19:20)

Sweat of your brow

Wit's end (Ps 107:27)

Writing on the wall (Dan 5: <<)

Inspired by OT

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust (Gen 3:19

A little birdie told me (Ecc 10:20)

Bite the dust (Ps 72:9)

• he will lick the dust

Feet of clay (Dan 2:31-33)

Fly in the ointment (Ecc 10:1)

No rest for the wicked (Isa 57:21)

Put words in the mouth (2 Sam 14:3)

Pride comes before the fall (Prov 16:18)

Rise and shine (Isa 60:1:

• Arise! Shine!

Spare the rod, spoil the child (Prov 13:24

• Whosoever spares the rod hater their childen

Sayings of Jesus

The blind leading the blind (Mt 15:14)

Cast the first stone (Jn 8:7)

Cast pearls before swine (Mt 7:6)

The eleventh hour (Mt 20:6)

To fall by the wayside (Mt 13:4, Mk 4:4; using past tense "fell" )

Flesh and blood (Mt 16:17)

A house divided against itself cannot stand (

Many are called, but few are chosen (Mt. 22:14)

Millstone tied around your neck (Mt 18:6; Mk 9:42; Lk 17:12)

The salt of the earth (Mt 5:13)

Signs of the times (Mt 16:3)

The truth will set you free (Jn 8:32)

What God has joined, let no man asunder (Mt 19:6)

Inspired by Jesus

Go the extra mile (Mt 5:41)

• Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles.

Kiss of death (Mt 26:48, Mk 14:44, Lk 22:47)

• derived from Judas' betrayal of Jesus with a kiss, which was Judas' signal to the guards that the man he kissed (greeted) was Jesus
• Jesus replies, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk 22:48)

Move a mountain/ move mountains (Mt. 17:20-21, Mk 11:24; also 1 Cor 13:2)

O ye of little faith (Lk 12:28)

Physician, heal thyself! (Lk 4:23)

• Jesus didn't make it up, but affirms it as a proverb; he did make it famous!

Red skies at night, red skies in morning (Mt 16:2-3)

Sevenfold (Mt 18:21)

• means considerably more than, greatly increased
• while the number seven is significant across the Bible, in the sense of an ever-larger number or number of times is explicit in Jesus' instructions to Peter to forgive a brother who sins against him, "“I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times"

The straight and narrow (Mt 7:14)

Wolf in a sheep's clothing (Mt 7:15)

Other New Testament sayings

Better to give than receive (Acts 20:35)

St. Paul

Fall from grace (Gal 5:4)

Fight the good fight (1 Tim 6:12)

A labor of love (1 Thess 1:3) <

A law unto themselves (Rom 2:14)

The letter of the law (2 Cor 3:6)

Money is the root of all evil / (1 Tim 6:10)

The powers that be (Rom 13:1)

Reap what you sow (Gal 6:7)

Twinkling of an eye (1 Cor 15:52)

Others

Armageddon (Rev 16:16)

Baptism by fire

• may be inspired by John the Baptist's reference to "Baptism by the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3:11)
• but it has an opposite meaning in today's sense

Head on a platter (Herodius' daughter to Herod, Mk 6:25-28; Mt 14:8-11)

Wash my hands (Pilate in Mt 27:24)