1Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2We always give thanks to God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers, 3remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father. 4We know, brothers loved by God, that you are chosen, 5and that our Good News came to you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we showed ourselves to be among you for your sake. 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, 7so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For from you the word of the Lord has been declared, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that we need not to say anything. 9For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Expression | Meaning | Biblical Text |
| "A labor of love" | 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 | |
| "A sign of the times" | Matthew 16:3 | |
| "At the eleventh hour | Matthew 20:1-16 | |
| "At your wit's end" | Psalm 107:23-27 | |
| "By the skin of your teeth" | To barely succeed | Job 19:20 |
| "Bite the dust" | For something to fail | Psalm 72:9 |
| "Blind leading the blind" | Unskilled persons are being led by equally unskilled persons. | Matthew 15:14 |
| "Broken heart" | To have much sorrow. | Psalm 34:18 |
| "Can a leopard change his spots?" | The inability of a person to change what they are | Jeremiah 13:23 |
| "Cast the first stone" | To criticize first, or be the first person to attack. | John 8:7 |
| "Cast your pearls before swine" | Matthew 7:6 | |
| "Drop in a bucket" | Insignificant impact or amount | Isaiah 40:15 |
| "Eat, drink, and be merry" | Ecclesiastes 8:15; Luke 12:19; 1 Corinthians 15:32 | |
| Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" | If something bad is done by a person, then the same thing should happen to them as a punishment. | Matthew 5:38 |
| "Fall from grace" | This speaks of a person who has fallen from a position of respect or rank. | Galatians 5:4 |
| "Fall by the wayside" | Luke 8:5 | |
| "Feet of clay" | Daniel 2:31-45 | |
| "Fight the good fight" | 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:6 | |
| "Fly in the ointment" | Something that ruins an effort. | Ecclesiastes 10:1 |
| "For every thing there is a season" | Ecclesiastes 3 | |
| "Forbidden fruit" | Genesis 3:3 | |
| "Go the extra mile" | Go beyond what is expected of a person. | Matthew 5:41 |
| "Good Samaritan" | This speaks of a person who helps another person in need without the intent of receiving something in return. | Luke 10:30-37 |
| "He that toucheth pitch" | Ecclesiasticus 13:1 (Apocrypha) | |
| "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword | Matthew 26:52 | |
| "How the mighty have fallen" | 2 Samuel 1:19 | |
| "Land of milk and honey" | Exodus 3:1-22 | |
| "Land of Nod" | Genesis 4:16 | |
| "Leopard cannot change its spots" | Jeremiah 13:23 | |
| "Let there be light" | Lighthearted comment when someone turns on a light | Genesis 1:3 |
| "Like a lamb to the slaughter" | To do an innocent act not knowing of the danger ahead. | Isaiah 53:7 |
| "Millstone around your neck" | Luke 17:2 | |
| "Move mountains" | 1 Corinthians 13:2 | |
| "Nothing but skin and bones" | For a person to be very thin or emasculated. | Job 19:19-20 |
| "Nothing new under the sun" | Ecclesiastes 1:9 | |
| "O ye of little faith" | Matthew 8:26 | |
| "Pride comes before a fall" | Usually, a caution that someone is too confident and will cause the person to fail. | Proverbs 16:18 |
| "The love of money is the root of all evil" | 1 Timothy 6:10 | |
| "The powers that be" | Romans 13:1 | |
| "The straight and narrow" | Matthew 7:13-14 | |
| "Writing on the wall" | Indicating that something bad is about to happen. | Daniel 5:1-31 |
You may see several examples, given above, at Biblical idioms and sayings with origins explained.
David Crystal has discovered 257 examples of these idioms. You may read or listen to an interview with him at Talk of the Nation, December 22, 2010, and may want to order his book, Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language.