How many times do you hear the Bible referenced in common conversations? That number may be larger than you think. Many of the descriptive terms we use as well as the names we have given many items, come from the Bible. Those who don’t consider themselves “religious” might be surprised at how often they reference the Bible in everyday conversations.

Here are seven examples. Think about them for a while before you scroll to the bottom of the article to find out the answer.
Questions:

1. What do we call a beautiful and seductive woman who is scheming and leads a man astray?
   
2. What book of the Bible are we quoting when we say we are at our “wit’s end”?
   
3. We use a word that means extravagantly or sickeningly sentimental that came from a New Testament woman’s name.
   
4. You have heard the phrase, “Go the extra mile” meaning to provide more than is asked of you.
   
5. There is a ladder that is found on a pier of a ship that gets its name from a dream found in the Old Testament.
   
6. A beautiful and unspoiled area is called what?
   
7. You see a person going out of their way to be kind to a stranger. What might you call that person?

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Answers:

1. We call her a Delilah. Delilah was a Philistine woman who seduced Samson and used her feminine powers to get him to tell her the source of his strength. When he finally told her, she cut his hair (the secret of his strength) making him vulnerable to the attack of the Philistines. Read about them in Judges 16.
   
2. Psalm 107, verse 27 says, “They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wit’s end.” The men discussed in this Psalm had used up all of their own wisdom and abilities and finally called out to God.
   
3. Maudlin is the word. It is an old shortened form of Magdalene. It came to be used in such a way because, in old paintings, Mary Magdalene was often pictured as weeping and very repentant.
   
4. Jesus gave important rules for living in His famous Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:41, He says, “If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”
   
5. A Jacob’s Ladder is the common name for a rope or chain ladder with metal or wooden rungs. It is a reference to Genesis 28. Jacob had a dream in which he saw a stairway or ladder resting on the earth and reaching up to Heaven. Angels were ascending and descending on the ladder.
   
6. We call it Eden from the Garden of Eden, spoken of in Genesis. It was the perfect garden created by God for His creation.
   
7. You might call them a Samaritan or a Good Samaritan. This is from the parable of the Good Samaritan that is related in Luke chapter 10

If you love Bible trivia, try
The Complete Book of Bible Trivia
by J. Stephen Lang
at Amazon.com


For your casual reading.