To help celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publishing of the KJV, I would like to acknowledge how important that version of the Bible is for our language today. Below is a sample of phrases and figures of speech we owe to the KJV:
See eye to eye.
To play the fool.
By the skin of my teeth.
In the twinkling of an eye.
All things to all men.
Man after my own heart.
Thorn in the flesh.
My brother’s keeper.
The patience of Job.
Fall from grace.
Salt of the earth.
Lick the dust.
At his wits’ ends.
Fly in the ointment
Cast the first stone.
Give up the ghost.
Flesh and blood.
Physician heal thyself.
No rest for the wicked.
Go the extra mile.
Good Samaritan.
Feet of clay.
Filthy lucre.
Signs of the times.
A law unto themselves.
Born again.
A brood of vipers.
Eat, drink and be merry.
Fight the good fight.
Nothing new under the sun.
Put words in one’s mouth.
The way of all flesh.
Woe is me.
The root of the matter.
Strait and narrow.
Are there any more? Thanks to John Peter Bodner, Hope Assembly of Bible Christians, Mississauga, ON.