You're Going To Reap Just What You Sow

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "You're going to reap just what you sow (2x), Up on the mountain, Down in the valley, You're going to reap just what you sow." Verse: "Let the sinner sin (mourner mourn, deacon plead, preacher preach, liar lie) right on"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious Bible
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, pp. 28-29, "You Goin' to Reap Jus' What You Sow" (1 text) (1 tune)
Roud #15222
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sowing on the Mountain" (theme, some chorus lines)
NOTES [145 words]: Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute's verses the first line is repeated and followed by "Up on the mountain, Down in the valley, You're going to reap just what you sow."
The Biblical reference may be to Eliphaz's unjustified accusation of Job, Job 4:7-9: "Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed" (King James): that is, if you are in trouble, it must be trouble of your own doing. - BS
Although the idea of sowing trouble and reaping it, with interest, is very common, e.g. Hosea 8:7, about sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind, and in Hosea 10:12, a reference to sowing and harvesting good things. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.0
File: Dett028

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