The Bible and Bob Marley Quotes

“So I Idren, I sistren / Which way will we choose / We better hurry, oh hurry, oh hurry, woe now / ’Cause we’ve got no time to lose.”429 This urgency intensifies toward realized eschatology in the song’s final verse: “So I Idren, I sistren / The preaching and talking is done / We’ve gotta live up, woe now, woe now / ’Cause the Father’s time has come”430 (cf. Mark 1:15).”
― Dean MacNeil, The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told

“The goal of wisdom is the good life, here and now.”265 Marley similarly emphasizes a this-worldly life of joy: “[I]f you know what life is worth / You would look for yours on earth.”266 Marley does not want people to have to wait until the afterlife to live. He states, “I want people to live big and have enough,”267 and proclaims “Rastaman live up!”268 and “the greatest thing is life.”269”
― Dean MacNeil, The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told

“[I]f you know what life is worth / You would look for yours on earth.”266”
― Dean MacNeil, The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told

“Proverbs 3:16 states, “Length of days is in [wisdom’s] right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour” (KJV). Yet Marley does not interpret the riches of wisdom as earthly riches. When asked, “Are you a rich man? Do you have a lot of possessions?” he responded, in typical Marley fashion, with a question followed by a statement: “Possessions make you rich? I don’t have that type of richness. My richness is life.”485 Marley’s concern is the right hand of wisdom—life (Prov 3:16a)—not the left.”
― Dean MacNeil, The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told

“the second verse, Marley tells of the role of wisdom in salvation: Which man can save his brother’s soul? Oh man, it’s just self-control Don’t gain the world and lose your soul Wisdom is better than silver and gold480 In lines one and two, he links salvation with self-control, an aspect of wisdom which can be considered a theme both in Marley’s lyrics and in wisdom literature.”
― Dean MacNeil, The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told

“Continuing the plea for unity that began in the first line of the song, the first verse begins with a quotation of Ps 133:1 (KJV): “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” How good and how pleasant it would be Before God and man To see the unification of all Africans As it’s been said already Let it be done We are the children of the Rastaman We are the children of the Higher Man440”
― Dean MacNeil, The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told

“Psalm 127 is the eighth of fifteen Psalms entitled, “Songs of Ascents,” which are discussed in greater detail below under “Africa Unite.” A key message of the Psalm is that, unless centered on God, all activity is “vain,” meaning “useless, worthless, senseless.”399 Weiser explains, The verdict ‘in vain,’ which is passed three times on man’s literally ‘God-less’ activities sounds quite sinister and shattering. This radical formulation has been chosen in order to effect the radical renunciation of an attitude of mind which is so absorbed in work and worries that it loses sight of God’s providence and his effect on life.400”
― Dean MacNeil, The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told