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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Happy Birthday KJV

Today is the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. My husband informed me that there will be a celebration at a local grad school today, which he may attend.

I find it interesting that it has influenced our English language to such a great extent.
This article lists some of the many phrases now in common circulation that come to us from the Bible, most of which are from the KJV. Here are a few of them:
Woe is me

Wolf in sheep's clothing

Writing is on the wall

You reap what you sow

All things must pass

All things to all men

Am I my brother's keeper?

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth

As old as Methuselah

As old as the hills

As white as snow

As you sow so shall you reap

Ashes to ashes dust to dust

At his wits end

7 comments:

  1. This is interesting. Thanks for pointing it out!

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  2. Happy birthday KJV!

    Most of us at the Church I'm a member of use an NIV these days. There is one lady at our church who is convinced it is of the devil and that the KJV is the only "true" Bible endorsed by God Himself!

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  3. I like “Nothing New under the Sun.” Not to mention the Simon & Garfunkel song. (And the J.Geils Album Name…although not many lists include that, of course!)

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  4. Not such common circulation, but I always liked the KJV version of Ecclesiastes 3, including 3:7, "a time to rend." :^)

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  5. OK, I confess, I just googled for the J. Geils album, can't find it though. "You're Gettin' Even While I'm Gettin' Odd"?

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  6. Whoops! I was thinking of "Piss on the Wall" which is a song (Not an album name) on Freeze-Frame.

    Memory must be going.

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  7. DagoodS,
    In elementary school I was not told about the "piss on the wall" quote, but I did know about "as a dog returns to its vomit" and had great fun reading that to friends. I was amused that the Bible gave me license to say such disgusting things out loud.

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