The phrase to "make a mountain out of a molehill" appears to have started in the 1500's.

The phrase refers to taking something insignificant and making it into a great and significant issue. That is, to make something more important than it should be. Other similar phrases include the following.

• "blow out of proportion"
• "sweat the small stuff" (book)
• "penny wise pound foolish" (Ben Franklin)
• "throw out the baby with the bathwater"
• "counting the cost" (parable by Jesus)



More: Matthew 13:31-32 Third kingdom parable: mustard seeds and trees

The English word "woe" appears many times in the Bible. Think of a "bird" of prey (eagle, hawk, owl, vulture, etc.) swooping down. Sometimes the English word "alas" is used for "woe".

More: Onomatopoeia: sounds as words

The ancient Greek word "διυλίζω" ≈ "sort out" and literally means "through the matter of". Only in the GNT is this word translated as "strain" and then used only one time.

• "διυλίζω" ≈ "sort out"
• "διά" ≈ "through".
• "ὕλη" ≈ "wood, brush, subject, matter".

The Latin word "excolere" ≈ "tend, cultivate, improve, perfect". The English word "strain" comes, through French, from the Latin word "stringo" ≈ "draw tight together, tie".

The ancient Greek word "διυλίζω" ≈ "sort out" and literally means "through the matter of" in coming from two Greek words.

• "δια" ≈ "through" as in "diameter".
• "ὕλη" ≈ "wood, brush, subject, matter" and is related to the Latin word "silva" ≈ "wood" as in Pennsylvania as "Penn's woods". It is related to the English word "sill", with Germanic origins, as in a "window sill" as originally coming from wood.

The modern Greek word "διυλίζω" (thee-ee-LEE-zo) ≈ "refine, distill, filter, strain" as in "refine/distill crude oil", "filter/strain olive oil". This definition appears to be influenced by the meaning decided for the word in the GNT.

The three word groups all start with the Greek "K" or "Kappa" letter. The "beware" means "see" or "observe".

• "κυνας" ≈ "dogs" (apparent reference to the Cynics).
• "κακους εργατας" ≈ "bad workers" (faith by required works).
• "κατατομην" ≈ "concision" (Jews with extra required rules).

In Roman times, the letter "k" was considered sinister and, in most cases, the Roman "c", with the same "k" sound, was used. Thus, "Caesar" was pronounced as "Kaiser". Carthage: Latin "Karthago" as "new Tyre", "Punic" as "Phoenician".

Later, the hard Latin "c" as "k" changed to the softer "c" as "s" or "ch" as in "church". The German word "die Kirche" ≈ "church".

More: Philippians 3:1-4 shifting gears to work the others

The English word "gnat" comes from the Old English word "gnætt" ≈ "small flying insect".

Many English words, some used in the KJV (King James Version), had a more generic meaning at one time.

• "meat" meant "food".
• "deer" meant "animal".
• "apple" meant "fruit" as in a "pineapple".
• "corn" meant "grain".
• "gnat" meant "flying insect".
• "fish" meant a "water creature" as in a "starfish", "crawfish", etc.



More: English word fish

There are gnats that are bothersome and, in Savannah, GA, there were the Sand Gnats.
The name of the minor league baseball team in Savannah , GA, from 1984 to 2015, was the "Sand Gnats". A sand gnat is like a gnat, but stings. The sting only lasts for a few seconds, but it is quite annoying. Sand gnats are not out when it is very cold nor when it is very warm. When it is nice out, sand gnats make their presence known.

An neighborhood area of Savannah, GA, is known as Sandfly (in the Bacon Park area).

The Savannah Bananas are the current minor league team in Savannah. The Banana name has a bunch of appealing attributes (to pitch some batter jokes).

Running race: Home Run Trot (2005, 2006).

The Savannah Sand Gnats relocated to Columbia, SC in 2016 and were then known as the Columbia Fireflies. Apparently that was a bright idea that took the sting out of the team name.

Fireflies are best seen at night. This is a "fly-by-night" idea.

Insects such as mosquitoes and gnats, that could fly and had four feet, were unclean.

More: A concise tome on insect divisions and sections

This verse is the "poster child" example of the "Aramaic hypothesis" as the words used here can be associated with Aramaic words to support the idea that Jesus spoke Aramaic with a few Greek words. On close inspection, however, Jesus, as recorded by Matthew, makes some interesting Greek play on words. Once these are identified, those play on words fit well with other play on words in verses before and after this verse.

This claimed connection is somewhat misleading as both Greek words appear to have a Semitic origin. Thus, concluding that the original speech was in Aramaic and then translated into Greek is tenuous. If the words were spoken in Greek, they would still have an Aramaic or Semitic origin.

The ancient Greek phrase "μῆλον τῆς Ἔριδος" ≈ "Apple of Eris" is the "golden apple of discord" chosen by the goddess Eris in the garden of the Hesperides.
That innocent (but intentionally placed) apple sparked a vanity contest between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite and is attributed as the reason for the Trojan War.

More: Eristic reasoning creates strife and contention

The flexible Greek word order is sometimes used to create a play on words that adds the imagery and meaning to the actual words.
Had the religious establishment in Judea attempted to "swallow" the "poison" and/or "blood" of the (Roman) "birds" and "apple"? There are other ways that the play on words could create mental imagery.

The Greek for "gnat" is the source of the English word "canopy".