What’s the origin of the phrase ‘A multitude of sins’?
From the Bible, James 5:20. This was first printed in English in Miles Coverdale’s Bible, 1535:
Let ye same knowe that he which conuerted the synner from goynge astraye out off his waye, shal saue a soule fro death, and shal hyde the multitude of synnes.
- it also appeared later in Peter 4:8, King James Version, 1611:
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.