While there are many books currently available discussing the various popular idioms derived from the King James Bible, Crystal's book is unique. Crystal started by reading through his King James Bible two times solely for the purpose of locating all the idioms commonly used in modern English. Next, since the King James translators were explicitly instructed to follow the Bishop's Bible where the truth of the original would permit as well as to consult other 16th century translations i.e., Tyndale's, Matthews, Coverdale's, Great, or Geneva Bibles where they agreed better with the Greek text, Crystal consulted these sources to see where each idiom's true origin could be found.
According to Crystal, the King James Bible carried many of the idioms found in previous translations forward and popularized them. Moreover, Crystal offers a total for the number of idioms truly originating in the text of 1611. To find out how many there are you will either have to listen to the interview with Crystal provided below or attend the 2011 Great Lakes Grace Bible Conference. Better yet get the book and read it for yourself it will fascinate you.
I don't normally support NPR but this is a good interview.
For a list of 122 everyday phrases that have a Biblical origin click here.
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