Everyday phrases from the Bible
Expressions people use every day without knowing they come from the Bible, and what they originally meant.
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Card 1 of 16
Where does the word "scapegoat" come from?
From the Day of Atonement in Leviticus, when the high priest confessed the people's sins over a live goat and sent it away into the wilderness.
The word was coined by William Tyndale in his 1530 translation, from "escape goat". The goat symbolically carried the people's sins away. Today it means someone blamed for the faults of others, which keeps the idea of bearing guilt but drops the idea that the sins were real and were truly removed.
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Card 2 of 16
What did "an eye for an eye" originally mean?
It was a law limiting punishment to fit the harm done, not a licence for revenge.
In the ancient world a family might answer an injury with a killing. The law set a ceiling: the penalty must not exceed the crime, and it was applied by judges, not by the injured party. Jesus quoted it in the Sermon on the Mount and went further, telling his followers not to retaliate at all but to "turn the other cheek".
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Card 3 of 16
Where do "go the extra mile" and "turn the other cheek" come from?
Both come from Jesus's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about not retaliating against those who wrong you.
Roman soldiers could legally force a civilian to carry their gear for one mile. Jesus told his hearers to carry it two. A slap on the right cheek with the back of the hand was an insult rather than an attack. In both cases Jesus tells his followers to answer contempt with generosity rather than resistance or resentment.
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Card 4 of 16
Where do "salt of the earth" and "a light under a bushel" come from?
From the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus tells his followers they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and that no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket.
Salt preserved food and gave it flavour, and a lamp under a basket does no good to anyone. Jesus's point was that his followers exist for the sake of the world around them. "Salt of the earth" now means a good, honest, unpretentious person, and "hiding your light under a bushel" means being modest about your talents.
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Card 5 of 16
Where does "a wolf in sheep's clothing" come from?
From Jesus's warning about false prophets who come looking harmless but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
He adds that you will recognise them by their fruits, meaning what their lives produce. The phrase now describes anyone who hides hostile intentions behind a friendly appearance. The same passage gives "by their fruits you shall know them".
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Card 6 of 16
Where does "don't cast pearls before swine" come from?
From the Sermon on the Mount: Jesus warns not to give what is holy to dogs or throw pearls before pigs, who will trample them and turn on you.
In context it follows "judge not" and balances it: not judging others does not mean having no discernment. Pigs were unclean animals to Jews, and would neither value pearls nor thank you for them. The phrase now means wasting something valuable on people who cannot appreciate it.
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Card 7 of 16
Where do "by the skin of your teeth" and "the patience of Job" come from?
Both come from the book of Job: Job says he has escaped "by the skin of my teeth", and James in the New Testament holds up his endurance.
Job's phrase is a bitter one: he is saying he has barely survived, since teeth have no skin. "The patience of Job" comes from the King James translation of James 5:11; modern translations often say "steadfastness", which is more accurate, because Job was not patient in the sense of quiet. He protested loudly, but he never let go of God.
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Card 8 of 16
Where do "nothing new under the sun" and "eat, drink, and be merry" come from?
Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the sun and recommends eating, drinking, and enjoying life. Jesus's parable of the rich fool puts "eat, drink, be merry" in the mouth of a man about to die.
In Ecclesiastes enjoying food and drink is presented as God's gift in a fleeting life. In Luke's parable a rich man plans to hoard his harvest and take life easy, and God says, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you." The same words carry opposite points depending on whether they are said with gratitude or with complacency.
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Card 9 of 16
Where does "a house divided against itself cannot stand" come from?
From Jesus's reply to the accusation that he cast out demons by the power of Satan: a kingdom or house divided against itself cannot stand.
His point was that Satan would hardly work against himself. Abraham Lincoln used the line in his famous 1858 speech about the United States being unable to endure half slave and half free, expecting his hearers to know where it came from.
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Card 10 of 16
Where do "a thorn in the flesh" and "through a glass, darkly" come from?
Both come from Paul's letters to the Corinthians: a thorn in the flesh is his name for an affliction God would not remove, and seeing through a glass darkly describes our partial knowledge now.
Nobody knows what Paul's thorn was; guesses range from an eye disease to persecution. "Through a glass, darkly" is the King James wording; the glass is a mirror, and ancient bronze mirrors gave only a dim, blurred image. Paul says that now we see dimly, but then face to face.
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Card 11 of 16
Where do "a leopard can't change its spots" and "a drop in the bucket" come from?
From the prophets. Jeremiah asks whether a leopard can change its spots, and Isaiah says the nations are like a drop from a bucket to God.
Jeremiah's question is about Judah: people so used to doing evil could no more change themselves than a leopard could. Isaiah's phrase describes how small the great empires are before God, not how small a contribution is. Both have lost their original context in everyday use.
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Card 12 of 16
What is a "shibboleth", and where does the word come from?
A word, custom, or belief that marks someone as an insider or outsider. It comes from Judges, where the men of Gilead identified fleeing Ephraimites because they could not pronounce "shibboleth" correctly.
The Ephraimites said "sibboleth", and the mispronunciation cost forty-two thousand of them their lives at the fords of the Jordan. The word itself is Hebrew for an ear of grain or a stream; its meaning did not matter, only the "sh" sound. It now means any test that separates one group from another, often an outdated one.
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Card 13 of 16
Where does "washing your hands of" something come from?
From Pontius Pilate washing his hands in front of the crowd at Jesus's trial, declaring himself innocent of his blood.
Pilate had the power to release Jesus, but gave in when the crowd became a riot. Washing his hands was a public claim that he was not responsible, which the Gospel clearly does not accept. The phrase now means refusing any further responsibility for something.
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Card 14 of 16
Where does the phrase "the eleventh hour" come from?
From Jesus's parable of workers in a vineyard, in which the last workers are hired at the eleventh hour, about 5 p.m., and paid the same as those who worked all day.
The day was counted from about 6 a.m., so the eleventh hour was one hour before the end of work. The workers hired first grumble, and the landowner asks whether they begrudge his generosity. The parable is about grace, not timing, but the phrase now means "at the last possible moment".
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Card 15 of 16
Where do "you reap what you sow" and "labour of love" come from?
From Paul's letters. "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap" is in Galatians, and "labour of love" is in 1 Thessalonians.
Paul uses the sowing image to say that a life spent indulging oneself produces corruption, while one led by the Spirit produces life. "Labour of love" in the original praises the Thessalonians for work motivated by love. Today it usually means a task done for pleasure rather than payment, which is not far off.
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Card 16 of 16
What is Armageddon in the Bible?
The place named in Revelation where the kings of the whole world gather for battle on the great day of God.
The name probably comes from the Hebrew Har Megiddo, "mountain of Megiddo". Megiddo was a strategic city overlooking a plain where many historic battles were fought, which made it a natural symbol for the final conflict. In ordinary speech it now means any catastrophic, world-ending disaster.