Bible’s words alive and well in modern language
A passage in a book whose title I have long forgotten suggested reading the Bible for two reasons: To enjoy it as literature and to be amazed at the many phrases from it that survive in everyday English speech today.
Those aren't altogether terrible reasons, although one could add some weightier rationales: To help develop a moral code. To marvel at what Jesus thought of religious hypocrites. To take stock of how one is leading one's own life.
One might also turn to the Bible for wisdom, such as the advice in James 1:19: "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen (and) slow to speak …", or the countless instructions in Proverbs.
But it is undeniable that when reading the Bible, you do run across some very distinctive expressions that, in the lyrics of a certain 1990 hip-hop song, "make you go hmmm."
Let's take a short peek:
Eat, drink and be merry: Naturally, this carefree expression is associated with a devil-may-care attitude, and it sounds like something Shakespeare's Falstaff might have spoken.
In fact, these are the words of King Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 8:15:"Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry …" (King James Version)
By the skin of my teeth: Quite the opposite of the previous phrase, this signifies an escape from peril, although not without serious consequences.
That's pretty much what poor Job meant when he declared, in Job 19:20 (New International Version): "I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth." (Close observers will note that the quotation actually includes a second common expression: "nothing but skin and bones.")
Go the extra mile: This urging by many a boss or coach has its origin at The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:41) in which Jesus said: "If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles." (NIV)
A drop in the bucket: An oft-used expression to denote something of little significance, it is found back in Isaiah 40:15: "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance …" (American Standard Version)
A voice of one, calling in the wilderness: This signifies a lone person proclaiming something wise or important, but no one listens. This is found in the first chapters of the gospels of both Mark and John, quoting John the Baptist announcing that he is declaring that a Messiah is coming.
But it is also found in Isaiah 40 (see above), in a slightly different context. The third verse reads:
"A voice of one calling:
'In the wilderness prepare
the way for the LORD;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.'" (NIV)
The difference is subtle, but distinct.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth: The phrase is typically used to declare the kind of equal punishment, or revenge, that should be dispensed for an offense. Indeed, in Exodus 21:24-25, the phrase is even longer: "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, bruise for bruise." (NIV)
Jesus, always eager to turn the world's values on its ear, declared in The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38-39, 1599 Geneva Bible): "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. "
(TV comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have a brilliant little skit on this subject, but that is for another day.)
I'm at my wit's end: Aren't we always, at least sometimes?
The condition is nothing new; Psalm 107:27 declares: "They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end." (KJV)
He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword: It's regarded as a proverb today, a warning that those who rely on violence could be felled similarly.
It is derived from the text in Matthew 26:52, when Christ scolded a companion who pulled out a sword and attacked one of those who came to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane.
"Then said Jesus unto him, 'Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.'" (KJV)
It goes on …
Rise and shine?
A wolf in sheep's clothing?
There's nothing new under the sun?
They're all in there, and then some.
One of my favorite phrases is also one of the simplest: The good Samaritan. I don't think the exact phrase is found in scripture. But it's clearly inspired by a passage in the Bible, and of course it refers to someone who helps an ailing stranger.
More precisely, it refers to aid coming from an unlikely source. Israelites despised and generally avoided Samaritans, whom they regarded as impure half-breeds. (Readers of the Harry Potter series will recall the deeply derogatory phrase "mudblood.")
Jesus turned that prejudice on its ear at least twice — once in telling the parable of the Samaritan who rescues a beaten Israeli that some religious Jews conveniently ignored, the other in a personal encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well.
Mercy, Jesus sure made things uncomfortable for the smug and sanctimonious.
And it can make for good reading … whatever your motivation.
Chuck Stinnett can be reached at email@example.com.