The expression 'rob Peter to pay Paul' dates to John Wycliffe's 'Select English Works,' (1380).

It was included in John Heywood's (1546) collection of proverbs: 'To rob Peter to pay Paul.' George Herbert listed it in his collection (1640) as 'Give not Saint Peter so much, to leave Saint Paul nothing.' Appears in the United States in 'Thomas Hutchinson Papers' (1657).

A similar expression exists in many languages:

French: 'Découvrir saint Pierre pour couvrir saint Paul', 'déshabiller Pierre pour habiller Paul' and other variants, ('Strip Peter to clothe Paul')

Spanish: 'Desnudar a un santo para vestir a otro' ('To undress one saint to dress another')

German: 'Dem Peter nehmen und dem Paul geben' (German, 'To take from Peter and give to Paul').

It may refer to the Apostles Peter and Paul, and may be derived from a 12th-century Latin expression: "As it were that one would crucify Paul in order to redeem Peter.", though another supposed source is the use of funds from Westminster Abbey (The Collegiate Church of St Peter) to pay for the construction of St Paul's Cathedral.