Strata: The Bible in the News: Of Biblical Proportions

In a column published in fall 2004,^a I discovered that excessive rain and other manifestations of nature-produced pain were the most common occurrences that writers in the popular press associated with the expression “of Biblical proportions.” Sensing that little if anything remains static, I decided to see what if any changes had occurred in this usage over the intervening years.

Always aiming for the cutting edge, I limited my search for the most part to stories appearing in 2015 and the first part of 2016. Although this expression seems (at least to me) of hoary origins, its first usage is from the mid-20th century (C.E., not B.C.E.!). However, antiquarians should not feel slighted in the least: The use of the adjective “Biblical” to mean “huge” has a much more storied pedigree, going back to the Middle English poem “Piers Plowman” (late 1300s).

Rains of “Biblical proportions” are a seasonal staple in Great Britain, as can be seen with this story from the Dover Express: “Last week’s thunderstorm was of Biblical proportions. It was so severe that I’d almost started to gather up the animals two by two.” With no distinctions between clean and unclean species!