The expression "from ... youth" is a Hebraism - a Hebrew expression we find in lots of places in the Old and New Testaments. It generally carries the sense of something always having been a certain way. Although the underlying Hebrew word can be used in other contexts, in this context, the point of the expression is an emphasis on the absence of a time when the opposite was the case. This same idea is strengthened further by "until today" or "unto this day" or similar statements.
I've provided a list of examples of this usage. I break them down into categories of moral/vocational/personal history. Some of these classes blur into each other, so I offer them just by way of broad categorization.
There is also a second version of the same idiom using a slightly different Hebrew word, but meaning approximately the same thing. There are just two examples of this usage. I've grouped all the New Testament Greek uses under the first version.
There is also another Hebrew expression, which is an even stronger version of the same idea: "from ... womb." Job 31:18 uses the two expressions in parallel, suggesting that they have (or at least can have) approximately the same sense as one another.
These idioms become important when it comes to the topic of original sin and total depravity. Sometimes opponents of total depravity will complain that the word "youth," in "the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth," can refer to an age as late as adolescence, or even young adulthood. The problem with that analysis is failing to treat the word as part of the idiom that it is: an idiom that is similar to "from the get-go" or the like.
Interestingly, the same folks will typically take an exactly opposite approach when we point to the verses that use "from the womb," claiming that it is some kind of hyperbole and should not be taken literally, even though - of course - "womb" does not have a similarly wide range of semantic meaning.
First Version - "From ... Youth"
Moral Character
Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
1 Kings 18:12 And it shall come to pass, [as soon as] I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and [so] when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.
Psalm 71:5, 17 For thou [art] my hope, O Lord GOD: [thou art] my trust from my youth. ... O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
Jeremiah 3:24-25 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
Jeremiah 22:21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; [but] thou saidst, I will not hear. This [hath been] thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
Jeremiah 32:30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.
Ezekiel 4:14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
Matthew 19:20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Mark 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Luke 18:21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Acts 26:4 My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;
Vocation
Genesis 46:34 That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, [and] also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd [is] an abomination unto the Egyptians.
1 Samuel 12:2 And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons [are] with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. ("childhood" here translates the same Hebrew word translated "youth" in other places)
1 Samuel 17:33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou [art but] a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
Isaiah 47:12, 15 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. ... Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, [even] thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.
Zechariah 13:5 But he shall say, I [am] no prophet, I [am] an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
Personal History
2 Samuel 19:7 Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants: for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now.
Job 31:18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
Psalm 129:1-2 [[A Song of degrees.]] Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
Jeremiah 48:11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
Second Version of "From ... Youth" with Close Synonym
Psalm 88:15 I [am] afflicted and ready to die from [my] youth up: [while] I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. [The word translated "youth" here is essentially a synonym of the more common word for "youth".]
Proverbs 29:21 He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become [his] son at the length. [The word translated "children" here is essentially a synonym of the more common word for "youth".]
"From ... Womb" Version
Judges 13:5, 7 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. ... But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean [thing]: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
Judges 16:17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I [have been] a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any [other] man.
Job 31:18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
Psalm 22:10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou [art] my God from my mother's belly.
Psalm 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
Psalm 71:6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise [shall be] continually of thee.
Psalm 110:3 Thy people [shall be] willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
Isaiah 44:2, 24 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, [which] will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. ... Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I [am] the LORD that maketh all [things]; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
Isaiah 46:3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne [by me] from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
Isaiah 48:8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time [that] thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
Isaiah 49:1, 5 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. ... And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb [to be] his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
Jeremiah 20:17 Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb [to be] always great [with me].
Hosea 9:11 [As for] Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
Matthew 19:12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from [their] mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive [it], let him receive [it].
Luke 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
Acts 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
Acts 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:
Galatians 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called [me] by his grace,
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