#NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN ORIGIN SKIN#

So, when someone does something innocently, without realizing the danger or catastrophe that lies ahead, we might say they do it like a lamb to the slaughter. A lamb would obediently follow, unaware of its impending fate. This animal idiom from the Bible comes from the days when people would sacrifice animals.

Origin: Ecclesiastes 10:1 “Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” (ESV) Lamb to the slaughter “Before we go ahead with the proposal, we need to check carefully for any flies in the ointment.” 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 fine dust” (ESV) Fly in the ointmentĪ fly in the ointment is a drawback or a detrimental factor. “Although we are grateful for all the donations received, the total raised so far is still just a drop in the bucket.” A drop in the bucketĪ drop in the bucket is a small, inadequate quantity, or an insignificant contribution towards a larger problem. Origin: Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” (KJV)įind more idioms to describe change (or lack of it). “I know that she is trying to be more caring, but a leopard cannot change its spots.” This means a person can’t change their essential nature – especially when they have an inherently negative quality. We might ask “ Can a leopard change his spots?” as a rhetorical question, or simply comment “ A leopard cannot change its spots”.

#NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN ORIGIN SKIN#

Origin: Job 19:20 “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.” (KJV) Can a leopard change his spots? “I got through to the next round of auditions by the skin of my teeth.” If you do something by the skin of your teeth, you only just succeed. Origin: Psalms 34:18 “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (KJV) By the skin of your teeth “The death of Meg’s dog has left her with a broken heart.” Having a broken heart doesn’t mean that your heart is physically broken it means that you are in great sorrow and despair.

Origin: Psalms 72:9 “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust.” (KJV) Broken heart “I think my washing machine has finally bitten the dust.” To bite the dust means to fail or to stop existing. Let’s begin with some Bible idioms found in the Old Testament.

Nothing new under the sun origin