Allusions to learn
Terms : Hide Images
| 2276340220 | Alpha and Omega | MEANING: The beginning and the end ORIGIN: from Revelations in the New Testament |  | 0 |
| 2276340221 | Armageddon | MEANING: used to refer to any final conflict on a great scale ORIGIN: from the Book of Revelations, the place of the last decisive battle at the Day of Judgement |  | 1 |
| 2276340222 | blind leading the blind | MEANING: one of little experience teaching or showing someone how to do something ORIGIN: In Luke 6 (and Matthew 15:14) Christ tells this parable to His disciples: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." (Lk. 6:39-40) |  | 2 |
| 2276340223 | Cain and Abel/brother's keeper | MEANING: to indicate someone avoiding responsibility for the welfare of others ORIGIN: from the story of Adam and Eve's son Cain, who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. When God asked Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" Cain replied, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" |  | 3 |
| 2276340224 | Can a leopard change his spots? | MEANING: Habit is second nature. ORIGIN: It was argued that the Jews could not possibly alter their inveterate habits of sin; therefore, nothing remained but the infliction of the extremist punishment, their expatriation (Jer 13:24). | 4 | |
| 2276340225 | cast the first stone | MEANING: be the first to attack a sinner ORIGIN: From the King James Bible, John 8:7: "So when they continued asking Him, [Jesus] lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." |  | 5 |
| 2276340226 | den of thieves | MEANING: a place where corrupt and fraudulent events occur; a desecration of religious (and other) institutions to use for worldly gain ORIGIN: "And [Jesus] said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." (Matthew 21:13) A house of prayer: place of sacred worship. |  | 6 |
| 2276340227 | eye for an eye | MEANING: getting revenge using the same wrong done ORIGIN: a quotation from Exodus (21:23-27) in which a person who has taken the eye of another in a fight is instructed to give his own eye in compensation. |  | 7 |
| 2276340228 | eye of the needle | MEANING: a very difficult task ORIGIN: from famous narrow gateway called "the needle." In the NT, Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. |  | 8 |
| 2276340229 | fly in the ointment | MEANING: used to express a drawback, especially one that was not at first apparent ORIGIN: A likely source is a phrase in the King James Bible: "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour." (Ecclesiastes 10:1) For five centuries now 'a fly in the ointment' has meant a small defect that spoils something valuable or is a source of annoyance. The modern version thus suggests that something unpleasant may come or has come to light in a proposition or condition that is almost too pleasing; that there is something wrong hidden, unexpected somewhere |  | 9 |
| 2276340230 | gird up one's loins | MEANING: to prepare oneself for something requiring readiness, strength, or endurance. ORIGIN: Likely a Hebraism, often used in the King James Bible (e.g., 2 Kings 4:29). Literally referred to the need to strap a belt around one's waist when getting up in order to avoid the cloak falling off. |  | 10 |
| 2276340231 | David and Goliath | MEANING: a large person being overcome by a smaller person, an underdog ORIGIN: from the giant from the Philistine city of Gath, slain by David, when he was a shepherd boy. |  | 11 |
| 2276340232 | golden calf | MEANING: to criticize the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself. ORIGIN: As recounted in the Book of Exodus, Moses went up onto Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, leaving the Israelites for forty days and forty nights. The Israelites feared that Moses would not return and asked Aaron to make idols or gods for them to worship. Aaron complied and gathered up the Israelites' golden earrings. He melted them and constructed the golden calf. Aaron also built an altar before the calf. The next day, the Israelites made offerings and celebrated. Meanwhile, the Lord told Moses that his people had corrupted themselves in idolizing false gods ("worshiping false idols"), and that he planned to punish them, which he did, later having been convinced by Moses to spare the Jews for the time being. |  | 12 |
| 2276340233 | good Samaritan | MEANING: someone who helps another person, perhaps someone of a different race or background ORIGIN: from a NT parable about a Samaritan, a traditional enemy of the Hebrews, who stopped to help a Jewish man who had been beaten and left for dead at the side of the road. |  | 13 |
| 2276340234 | handwriting on the wall | MEANING: what the future holds ORIGIN: from the OT story of Daniel, who was able to accurately predict some mysterious writing that appeared on a wall (translated, it predicted the imminent death of the king) |  | 14 |
| 2276340235 | patience of Job | MEANING: one who suffers a great deal but remains faithful ORIGIN: Job whose faith in God was tested by Satan; though he lost his family and belongings, he remained patient and faithful. James 5.11: "You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy." |  | 15 |
| 2276340236 | Jonah | MEANING: one who brings bad luck ORIGIN: an OT prophet who ran from God and sailed to sea. When a storm arose, he admitted that he was the cause, and the sailors threw him overboard, where he was swallowed by a large fish. Jonah 1:15: "So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging." |  | 16 |
| 2276340237 | Judas | MEANING: a traitor ORIGIN: The Biblical Judas was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus, notorious for betraying Jesus. His surname in Latin means "murderer" or "assassin." According to the account given in the Gospel of John, Judas carried the disciples' money bag and betrayed Jesus for a bribe of thirty pieces of silver by identifying him with a kiss—the so-called "kiss of Judas"—to arresting soldiers of the High Priest Caiaphas, who then turned Jesus over to Pontius Pilate's soldiers. |  | 17 |
| 2276340238 | lamb to the slaughter | MEANING: unaware or oblivious of being led into any impending catastrophe ORIGIN: From Jeremiah 11:19: "But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, [saying,] 'Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, And let us cut him off from the land of the living, That his name be remembered no more' and Isaiah 53:7: "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." - both King James Version |  | 18 |
| 2276340239 | land of milk and honey | MEANING: a place of abundance ORIGIN: The original expression, "a land flowing with milk and honey", is a Biblical reference to the agricultural abundance of the Land of Israel. The first reference appears in Exodus 3:8 during Moses's vision of the burning bush: "And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites." (KJV) |  | 19 |
| 2276340240 | original sin/the "fall" | MEANING: all men are innately sinful ORIGIN: book of Genesis; as a result of Adam and Eve's fall from the state of innocence. When they ate of the forbidden fruit, they were cast out of the Biblical Garden of Eden; a post-biblical expression for the doctrine of Adam's transgression and mankind's consequential inheritance of a sinful nature because he ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. |  | 20 |
| 2276340241 | Philistine | MEANING: a person indifferent or hostile to the arts and refinement ORIGIN: from Sea-going people from Crete who became enemies of the Israelites and fought over their lands |  | 21 |
| 2276340242 | Prodigal Son | MEANING: a wasteful son who disappoints his father ORIGIN: from the NT parable of a man with two sons. When he split his estate between the two, the younger son gathered his fortune and left home to live the wild life, while the older son stayed home to work in the fields. When the younger son spent all of the money, he came crawling back to his father, who accepted him, pardoning his error by saying he was "lost but was found." |  | 22 |
| 2276340243 | Sodom and Gomorrah | MEANING: any place associated with wickedness or sin ORIGIN: from the evil cities of the OT that were destroyed by fire |  | 23 |
| 2276340244 | Solomon | MEANING: an extremely wise person ORIGIN: from the son of King David, the Israelite king who wrote Proverbs, and was known for wisdom |  | 24 |
| 2276340245 | wolf in sheep's clothing | MEANING: cannot always trust someone who appears as kind and friendly ORIGIN: The King James Version of the Bible gives this warning, in Matthew 7:15: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." In other words, be on the lookout for someone who hides malicious intent under the guise of kindliness. Both Aesop's Fables and the Bible contain explicit references to wolves in sheep's clothing. Aesop must have originated the phrase, as his tales are much older than any biblical text. |  | 25 |
| 2276340246 | The Tower of Babel | MEANING: a place where everyone speaks the same language or understands one another ORIGIN: from the Book of Genesis; the tower in which all people spoke the same language, but God then gave them all different languages to not be able to communicate with one another and they spread all over the world |  | 26 |
| 2276340247 | Babylon | MEANING: refers to a large, bustling city ORIGIN:In Genesis 10:10, Babel (Babylon) is described as a neighboring city of Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar |  | 27 |
| 2276340248 | doubting Thomas | MEANING: a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience ORIGIN: a reference to the Apostle Thomas who refused to believe that the resurrected Jesus appeared to the eleven other apostles until he could see and feel the wounds received by Jesus on the cross |  | 28 |
| 2276340249 | four horsemen of the apocalypse | MEANING: a sign that signals the end of time is approaching ORIGIN: book of Revelations; refers to four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Although some interpretations differ, in most accounts, the four riders are seen as symbolizing conquest, war, famine, and death, respectively. a harbinger of the Last Judgment. |  | 29 |
| 2276340250 | Judas Iscariot and 30 pieces of silver | MEANING: payment received for an act of treachery ORIGIN: Judas was the disciple who agreed to betray Jesus to the authorities in exchange for payment; the 30 pieces of silver were the price of Judas' betrayal; the way he identified him for the authorities was to approach Jesus and to greet him with a kiss |  | 30 |
| 2276340251 | The Magi | MEANING: wise men bearing gifts ORIGIN: from the Gospel of Matthew; the distinguished visitors who brought the Jesus the gifts of gold, frankinscence, and myrrh |  | 31 |
| 2276340252 | pearls before swine | MEANING: to offer something precious to someone, or a group of people, unable to appreciate the value of what they've been given ORIGIN: from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where he admonished his followers, that is, to deliver their message to those who would appreciate it |  | 32 |
| 2276340253 | my cup runneth over | MEANING: to have more than enough for one's needs ORIGIN: from the Hebrew bible, Psalm 23:5, in which David describes God as his shepard |  | 33 |
