Perhaps you have heard it said that many of today’s common phrases and sayings have their origins in the Bible. But do you know to what extent this is actually true?

Let’s look at some examples that you might never suspect, yet may find fun and interesting.

PHRASE: “A drop in the bucket”

Meaning: A very small amount compared to the whole quantity.

Origin: Isaiah 40:15: “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, He takes up the isles as a very little thing.”

PHRASE: “At his wits’ end”

Meaning: Completely at a loss, fully frustrated, or despaired.

Origin: Psalm 107:27: “They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.”

PHRASE: “Bite the dust”

Meaning: To die or fall to the ground unexpectedly.

Origin: Psalm 72:9: “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him; and His enemies shall lick the dust.”

PHRASE: “The apple of his eye”

Meaning: The person or thing someone cares for the most.

Origin: Deuteronomy 32:10: “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.”

PHRASE: “The writing [or handwriting] is on the wall”

Meaning: Threat of coming doom or unavoidable disaster.

Origin: Daniel 5:5: “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.”