Popular Sayings: Is That from the Bible?

Find the Biblical Roots of Everyday Phrases

By Timothy Beal

From conversations around the kitchen table, to talking heads on the TV news, to great literature, our language is steeped in biblical phrases and images. They provide a pool of imagination from which we constantly draw. Indeed, it's so familiar that we rarely realize when we are quoting it. You've heard people say, "Apple of my eye," "Writing on the wall" or "Rise and shine?" Well, each of those phrases came from the Bible!

Click here to discover the Bible verses that shape our language today.

Timothy Beal is the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University. He has published eight books on religion and American culture, including Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know, recently released by HarperOne.