Everyday Phrases From the Bible

About Everyday Phrases From the Bible

Give your memory a workout with Everyday Phrases From the Bible: 15 multiple-choice questions with a mix of 6 easy, 6 medium, 3 hard questions, free to play right in your browser. Discover how many common sayings — like "the writing on the wall" and "a drop in the bucket" — actually come straight from the pages of Scripture. Expect to spend about 7 minutes; every question comes with an explanation, so you learn something even when you miss.

A few sample questions

1. 1. The phrase "the writing on the wall," meaning a warning sign of doom, comes from which book of the Bible?

   Answer: Daniel

   In the Book of Daniel, a mysterious hand writes on the wall during King Belshazzar's feast, foretelling the fall of Babylon. The phrase has been used ever since to mean an ominous sign of things to come.

2. 2. When we say someone is "the salt of the earth," meaning a decent, down-to-earth person, which book of the Bible are we quoting?

   Answer: Matthew

   Jesus uses this phrase in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13), telling his followers they are "the salt of the earth." Salt was precious in ancient times, used to preserve food and season meals.

3. 3. The expression "a drop in the bucket," meaning a tiny, insignificant amount, comes from the Book of Isaiah. What was Isaiah describing?

   Answer: The nations of the earth compared to God's greatness

   Isaiah 40:15 says the nations are "like a drop in a bucket" compared to God. The verse was meant to comfort the Israelites by reminding them of God's overwhelming power over earthly kingdoms.

4. 4. We still say "forbidden fruit" to mean something desirable but off-limits. Which garden does this phrase come from?

   Answer: The Garden of Eden

   In Genesis, God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Their choice to eat it anyway is one of the most famous stories in all of literature.

5. 5. "An eye for an eye" is one of the most quoted Bible phrases. In its original context in Exodus, what was its purpose?

   Answer: To set a fair limit on punishment so it matched the crime

   The phrase appears in Exodus 21:24 as part of a legal code — it actually meant to restrict disproportionate revenge, ensuring punishment was no worse than the original harm done. Many people are surprised to learn it was meant as a moderating principle.

Things you'll learn along the way

• ✓In Matthew 27:24, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate literally washes his hands before a crowd, saying he is innocent of the blood of Jesus. The gesture has come to mean publicly refusing responsibility for something.
• ✓Jeremiah 13:23 asks, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" The prophet used this rhetorical question to argue that a people long accustomed to doing evil cannot easily change their ways.
• ✓Ecclesiastes 10:1 says, "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor." The idea is that even a tiny nuisance can ruin something precious — a thought as true today as it was thousands of years ago.