(RNS) Twelve phrases believed to have originated in the King James Bible, which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year:
“Fight the good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12)
“What comes out of the mouths of babes” (Psalms 8:2)
“How are the mighty fallen” (2 Samuel 1:19)
“To every thing there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
“Beat their swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3)
“Set thine house in order” (2 Kings 20:1, 2 Kings 20:1)
“A still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12 )
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20)
“Suffer little children” (Matthew 19:14, Luke 18:16)
“Turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6)
“A thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7)
“Let us now praise famous men” (Sirach 44:1, from the Apocrypha)
Source: “Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language,” by David Crystal.
