Your Arms Too Short To Box With God - Legacy

Legacy

The phrase first appeared in James Weldon Johnson's sermon "The Prodigal Son", which was published in his 1927 book of sermons, God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. The passage reads:

Young man-
Young man-
Your arms too short to box with God.
But Jesus spake in a parable, and he said:
A certain man had two sons,
Jesus didn't give this man a name,
But his is God Almighty.
And Jesus didn't call these sons by name,
But every young man,
Every where,

The phrase has survived in modern culture and is sometimes used in other contexts. "Your lungs is too small to hotbox with God" is a line used by rapper Xzibit in Eminem's "Bitch Please 2". Xzibit had used a variation of the line ("Your little lungs is too weak to hotbox with God") on "Down for the Count" by Reflection Eternal. The phrase also appears in the Black Star song "Thieves in the Night", in the line "Your firearms are too short to box with God". It is additionally the opening line of the Killah Priest hip-hop album Heavy Mental. The line also appears in "Drunk Daddy" by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies; "It's All Real" by Pitch Black; and "Mortal Combat" by Big Daddy Kane. Nas also used the line in his song "You're Da Man" from his 2001 album Stillmatic. GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan also used a variation ("Rhymes too short to box with God") on his track "Paper Plates" from Pro Tools.