“You can’t fully understand the English language without going back to the Bible,” I heard someone say---a Westerner to be precise. For someone like me who grew up with English as a second language, that took a lot of effort on my part to keep my eyebrows from raising. Perhaps it would be more apt to say that one can’t fully appreciate the language without going back to where some of its most used and popular terms and phrases originated----the Bible, or the King James Bible for the most part.

666 (Revelation 13:8)

A cross to bear (Luke 14:27)

A law unto themselves (Romans 2:14)

A man after his own heart (1 Samuel 13:14)

A millstone around your neck (Luke 17:2)

A still small voice (1 Kings 19:12)

All these things must come to pass (Matthew 24:6)

Am I my brother's keeper? (Genesis 4:9)

Armageddon (Revelations 16:16)

As a lamb to slaughter (Isaiah 53:7)

At the eleventh hour (Matthew 20:1-16)

At wit’s end (Psalm 107:27)

Be horribly afraid (Jeremiah 2:12)

Beat their swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4)

Bite the dust ( Psalm 72:9)

Blind leading the blind ( Matthew 15:13-14)

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

Broken heart (Psalm 34:18)

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

Cast the first stone (John 8:7)

Drop in a bucket (Isaiah 40:15)

Eat, drink, and be merry (Ecclesiastes 8:15, Luke 12:19)

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth (Matthew 5:38)

Fall by the wayside ( Luke 8:5)

Fall from grace (Galatians 5:4)

Feet of clay ( Daniel 2:33)

Fell flat on his face (Numbers 22:31)

Fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12)

Filthy lucre ( 1 Timothy 3:3)

Fly in the ointment (Ecclesiastes 10:1)

For everything there is a season (Ecclesiastes 3)

Forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:3)

From strength to strength (Psalm 84:7)

From time to time (Ezekiel 4:10)

Get thee behind me (Luke 4:8)

Give up the ghost (Matthew 27:50)

Go the extra mile (Matthew 5:41)

God and mammon (Matthew 6:24)

God forbid (Romans 3:4)

Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)

He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword (Matthew 26:52)

Heart's desire (Psalm 21:2)

Holier than thou (Isaiah 65:5)

How the mighty have fallen (1 Samuel 1:19)

Know for a certainty (Joshua 23:13)

Labor of love (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

Land of milk and honey ( Exodus 3:1-22)

Let there be Light (Genesis 1)

M ove mountains (1 Corinthians 13:2)

My cup runneth over (Psalm 23:5)

Nothing but skin and bones (Job 19:19-20)

Now are the mighty fallen (2 Samuel 1:19)

Peace offering (Leviticus 3:6)

Pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6)

Pour out your heart (Psalm 62:8)

Pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18)

Prodigal son (Luke 15:11ff)

Put words in one’s mouth (Exodus 4:15, 2 Samuel 14:3)

Reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7)

Rise and shine (Isaiah 60:1)

Salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)

Scapegoat (Leviticus 16:9-10)

See eye to eye (Isaiah 52:8)

Seek and ye shall find (Matthew 7:7)

Set thine house in order (Isaiah 38:1)

Sign of the times (Matthew 16:3)

Sour grape (Jeremiah 31:30)

Stand in awe (Psalm 4:4)

Straight and narrow (Matthew 7:14)

Suffer little children (Luke 18:16)

The apple of his eye (Deuteronomy 32:10)

The fat of the land (Genesis 45:18)

The love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10)

The powers that be (Romans 13:1)

The root of the matter (Job 19:28)

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41)

There’s nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7)

To the ends of the earth (Zechariah 9:10)

Treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20)

Turned the world upside down ( Acts 17:6)

Two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12)

Wash your hands of the matter (Matthew 27:24)

Weighed in the balance (Job 31:6)

What God has joined together let no man put asunder (Matthew 19:6)

Wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15)

Writing on the wall (Daniel 5)

References:

18 Everyday Expressions Borrowed From the Bible
37 Common English Sayings (From the Bible)
Contributions of the King James Bible to the English Language
How the King James Bible changed the world
King James Bible: How it changed the way we speak