multitude of sins, cover a

Idioms

Compensate for numerous evils, as in You may not be offering to help with the fair, but that big donation covers a multitude of sins. This expression originated in the New Testament (I Peter 4:8): “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023