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QuotesFromBible

What does the Bible actually say?

Misquotes corrected. Original words examined. Popular phrases checked against the text.

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Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

From the 1662 Book of Common Prayer burial service, not verbatim in the Bible. The underlying biblical texts (Genesis…

Not in the Bible
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England), the burial service. The phrasing 'earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust' appears in the 1662 BCP burial rite, which inherits the formulation from the 1549 and 1552 editions of the BCP. The wording draws on Genesis 3:19 ('to dust you shall return') and Ecclesiastes 3:20 ('all are from the dust, and to dust all return') but the specific liturgical formula 'ashes to ashes, dust to dust' does not appear verbatim in any Bible translation.

Be the change you wish to see in the world

Not in the Bible. The Gandhi attribution is also disputed — the pithy form appears to be a 1990s-2000s condensation of…

Not in the Bible
A 20th-century English paraphrase widely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, but even the Gandhi attribution is disputed. The pithy 'be the change' formulation does not appear in Gandhi's published writings or speeches in this exact form. The phrase appears to be a later condensation of a longer passage in his collected works — popularised in the 1990s and 2000s decades after his death (1948). It has no biblical source whatsoever.

Ask and you shall receive

The exact wording is in John 16:24 (KJV). Matthew 7:7 reads 'ask and it will be given to you.' Each passage qualifies…

Paraphrase
Closely related wording appears in Matthew 7:7–8, Luke 11:9–10, and John 16:24. The exact phrase 'Ask and you shall receive' (KJV: 'ask, and ye shall receive') is from John 16:24. The popular saying combines elements from multiple verses.

Be still, and know that I am God

Psalm 46:10 verbatim. The Hebrew harpu is plural and can mean 'desist, cease' — and the surrounding verses describe the…

Verbatim
Psalm 46:10. Verbatim in BSB and KJV. The verse is widely cited as a contemplative call to inner stillness, but in its psalmic context it is addressed to nations engaged in war and to people watching the LORD bring an end to violent conflict — a sharper and more public summons than the contemplative reading typically conveys.

All things work together for good

Romans 8:28. KJV: 'all things work together'. BSB: 'God works all things together'. Greek manuscripts disagree on…

Translation Dependent
Romans 8:28. The verse reads differently across translations depending on which Greek manuscript tradition is followed and how the syntax is parsed. The KJV reads 'all things work together for good'; the BSB reads 'God works all things together for the good.' The Greek allows both.

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Single biblical words that carry enormous cultural weight — examined in their original Hebrew or Greek.