This past Sunday in my message, I mentioned that there are expressions we use that find their origination in the Bible, but we never knew we were “quoting” the Bible!  The number one best selling book of all time influences our lives more than we realize!

After hearing the message, a friend emailed a list of the sayings that he has been collecting over the years of these types of biblical expressions.  It’s probably not exhaustive, but it’s a great sampling!

Saying – Bible Passage

A house divided – Matthew 12:25, Luke 11:17

Fell on rocky ground – Matthew 13:5

Twinkling of an eye – 1 Corinthians 15:52

All things to all men – 1 Corinthians 9:22

You Don’t Know the Half of It – 1 Kings 10: 7

Gird your loins – 1 Kings 18:46

A man after his own heart – 1 Samuel 13:14

I’ll pin him to the wall – 1 Samuel 18:10-11

Labor of love – 1 Thessalonians 1:3

Filthy Lucre – 1 Timothy 3:3

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

Fight the good faith – 1 Timothy 6:12

Suffer fools gladly – 2 Corinthians 11:19

A thorn in the flesh – 2 Corinthians 12:7

Letter of the law –  2 Corinthians 3:6

Put your house in order – 2 Kings 20:1, Isaiah 38:1

How the mighty fallen have fallen – 2 Samuel 1:19

Put words in one’s mouth – 2 Samuel 14:3

Turned the world upside down – Acts 17:6

It’s better to give than to receive – Acts 20:35

Absent in body, but present in spirit – Colossians 2:5

Feet of clay – Daniel 2: 33

Writing On the Wall – Daniel 5:5

Knees Knocking Together – Daniel 5:6

As white as snow – Daniel 7:9

Apple of his Eye – Deuteronomy 32:10

A graven image – Deuteronomy 5:8

Man does not live by bread alone – Deuteronomy 8:3

The Greater the Knowledge the Greater the Pain – Ecclesiastes 1:18

Nothing new under the sun – Ecclesiastes 1:9

A fly in the ointment – Ecclesiastes 10:1

To everything there is a season – Ecclesiastes 3:1

There’s a time and a place for everything – Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time to be born and a time to die – Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

Eat, drink, and be merry – Ecclesiastes 8:15

Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath – Ephesians 4:26

Manna from Heaven – Exodus 16:15

Stranger in a strange land – Exodus 2: 21-22

Eye for an eye – Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21 Matthew 5:38

Harden your heart – Exodus 4:21

Tearing Your Hair Out – Ezra 9:3

Reap What You Sow – Galatians 6:7

Be fruitful and multiply – Genesis 1:22

Let there be light – Genesis 1:3

Dust of the earth – Genesis 13:16

Breath of life – Genesis 2:7

Forbidden fruit – Genesis 2:9

By the sweat of your brow – Genesis 3:19

Dust to dust – Genesis 3:19

Fruit of your loins – Genesis 35:11

East of Eden – Genesis 4:16

The land of Nod – Genesis 4:16

My brother’s keeper – Genesis 4:9

Fat of the land – Genesis 45:18

Reap the whirlwind – Hosea 8:7

Hammer swords into plowshares – Isaiah 2:4

Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we will die. – Isaiah 22:13

A drop in the bucket – Isaiah 40:15

A voice crying in the Wilderness – Isaiah 40:3 also Matthew 4:1-11

Eye to eye – Isaiah 52:8

No peace for the wicked – Isaiah 57: 21

Rise and shine – Isaiah 60:1

Holier than thou – Isaiah 65:5

Patience of Job – James 5:11

A multitude of sins – James 5:20

Lamb to the slaughter – Jeremiah 11:19

A leopard cannot change its spots – Jeremiah 13:23

Sour grapes – Jeremiah 31:30

Woe is me – Job 10:15

As old as the hills – Job 15:7

Nothing but skin and bones – Job 19:19-20

I escaped by the skin of my teeth – Job 19:19-20

The root of the matter – Job 19:28

In the beginning was the Word – John 1:1

What is truth? – John 18:38

The truth shall set you free -John 8:32

He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone – John 8:7

Scapegoat – Leviticus 16:9-10

A peace offering – Leviticus 3:6

Eat Drink and Be Merry – Luke 12:19

O ye, of little faith – Luke 12:28

A cross to bear – Luke 14:27

Forgive them for they know not what they do – Luke 23:34

He gave up the ghost – Luke 23:46

Physician, heal thyself – Luke 4:23

Give unto Ceasar that which is Caesar’s – Mark 12:17

Wars and rumors of wars – Mark 13:7

No man is a prophet in his own town – Mark 6:1-6

Head on a Platter – Mark 6:25

United we stand, divided we fall – Matthew 12:25

The Blind Leading the Blind – Matthew 15:13-14

Flesh and blood – Matthew 16:17

A little bird told me – Matthew 16:23

Stumbling Block – Matthew 16:23

Red sky at morning – Matthew 16:3

Signs of the times – Matthew 16:3

Faith will move mountains – Matthew 21:21

Many are called, but few are chosen – Matthew 22:14

All things must pass – Matthew 24:6-8

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

Wash your hands of the matter – Matthew 27:24

Salt of the earth – Matthew 5:13

Turn the Other Cheek – Matthew 5:39 and Luke 6:29

Going the extra mile – Matthew 5:41

Blessed are the peacemakers – Matthew 5:9

No man can serve two masters – Matthew 6:24

Sufficient unto the day – Matthew 6:34

A wolf in sheep’s clothing – Matthew 7:1

Straight and narrow – Matthew 7:14

Don’t cast your pearls before swine – Matthew 7:6

Seek and Ye Shall Find – Matthew 7:7

Spare the rod, spoil the child – Proverbs 13:24

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult – Prov. 12:16

Gentle answer turns away wrath – Proverbs 15:1 1

Every day is miserable for the depressed, but a lighthearted man has a continual feast Proverbs 15:15

Pride goes before a fall – Proverbs 16:18

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. – Proverbs 17: 22

Listen to advice and accept correction, then in the end you will be wise. – Proverbs 19:20

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22: 6

Where there is no vision, the people perish. – Proverbs 29:18

A two-edged sword – Proverbs 5:4

Wisdom is better than rubies. – Proverbs 8:11

At my wit’s end – Psalm 107:27

Bite the Dust – Psalm 72

Out of the mouths of babes – Psalm 8:2

Heart’s desire – Psalms 21:2

My cup runneth over – Psalms 23:5

Tender mercies – Psalms 25:6

A broken heart – Psalms 34:18

From strength to strength – Psalms 84:7

Powers that Be – Romans 13:2

A law unto themselves – Romans 2:14

The wages of sin is death – Romans 6:23

To the ends of the earth – Zechariah 9:10

A few more my friend says he hasn’t gotten to yet:

Good Samaritan
nest of vipers
Weighed in the balances and found wanting
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
No rest for the wicked
Refused to give up the ghost
You can’t put words in my mouth
To set one’s teeth on edge
Fallen from Grace
As old as Methuselah
Sold his Birthright
A land flowing with Milk and Honey

A couple of sources:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bible-phrases-sayings.html
http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/famous.htm
http://www.squidoo.com/everyday-sayings-that-come-from-the-bible