# God's Gonna Cut You Down
**God's Gonna Cut You Down** is a traditional American gospel-folk song of divine judgment, in which a warning voice tells wrongdoers that, however long they "run on," God will eventually cut them down. It has circulated under several titles, including "Run On," "Run On for a Long Time," and "God Almighty's Gonna Cut You Down," and its best-known modern recording is [Johnny Cash](https://www.edgepedia.org/johnny-cash)'s, released posthumously on the album *American V: A Hundred Highways* in 2006[1](https://www.terrain.org/articles/19/york.htm) • [2](https://johnny-cash-infocenter.com/songs/gods-gonna-cut-you-down/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Authorship | Traditional; MusicBrainz credits the work to "[traditional]" with no individual writer[3](https://musicbrainz.org/work/1241bc15-4b20-315d-8c0a-6d8d30c52fbd) |
| Earliest cited recording | Golden Gate Quartet, side 1 of a Columbia 78 rpm single recorded in 1946 and released in 1947[4](https://www.si.edu/object/gods-gonna-cut-you-down-jezebel%3Anmah_1213382) |
| Best-known recording | Johnny Cash, on *American V: A Hundred Highways* (2006), posthumous, produced by Rick Rubin[2](https://johnny-cash-infocenter.com/songs/gods-gonna-cut-you-down/) • [5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krtm_gUAadI) |
| Cash sessions | One take from early November 2002 at Cash's home in Hendersonville, Tennessee; a further take from May to August 2003 at Cash Cabin Studio and a Hollywood studio[2](https://johnny-cash-infocenter.com/songs/gods-gonna-cut-you-down/) |
| Chart peak | No. 77 on the singles chart in November 2008[6](https://chart-history.net/wp-content/uploads/arch-johnny-cash.pdf) |
| Other titles | "Run On" (Elvis Presley, 1966), "Sermon" (Bobbie Gentry, 1967)[3](https://musicbrainz.org/work/1241bc15-4b20-315d-8c0a-6d8d30c52fbd) |
## Origins and older versions
The song is a gospel warning in which the singer relays God's message that no one escapes judgment, no matter how long they flee. MusicBrainz catalogs it as a traditional work, and one episode of the podcast *Songs from the Dead* traces its possible roots to seventeenth-century Irish robber ballads connected with the story of Patrick Fleming, before following the song through Irish song collecting, Australian field recordings, Civil War song sheets, and the [Dubliners](https://www.edgepedia.org/dubliners)' folk-revival version[7](https://podtail.com/en/podcast/songs-from-the-dead-10-minute-histories-of-legenda/god-s-gonna-cut-you-down-the-long-life-of-a-short-/). In the United States it circulated for decades as a minor gospel standard under titles including "God Almighty's Gonna Cut You Down" and "Run On for a Long Time"[1](https://www.terrain.org/articles/19/york.htm).
The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History holds a 78 rpm record pairing "God's Gonna Cut You Down" with "Jezebel" by the Golden Gate Quartet, with side 1 recorded in 1946 and the album *Golden Gate Spirituals* released by Columbia in 1947[4](https://www.si.edu/object/gods-gonna-cut-you-down-jezebel%3Anmah_1213382). The folk singer [Odetta](https://www.edgepedia.org/odetta) recorded the song as well; setlist.fm's first logged performance of it is her appearance at [Carnegie Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnegie-hall) in New York on April 8, 1960[8](https://www.setlist.fm/song/traditional/gods-gonna-cut-you-down-3bc40420.html).
## Cash's version and its afterlife
Johnny Cash recorded the song twice. An early take was made in early November 2002 at his home in [Hendersonville, Tennessee](https://www.edgepedia.org/hendersonville-tennessee), and a second take came out of the sessions of May through August 2003 at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville and the Akadémie Mathématique of Philosophical Sound Research in Hollywood[2](https://johnny-cash-infocenter.com/songs/gods-gonna-cut-you-down/). [Rick Rubin](https://www.edgepedia.org/rick-rubin) served as producer and executive producer, [John Carter Cash](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-carter-cash) as associate producer, and the credited performers include Mike Campbell, Smokey Hormel, Benmont Tench, and Randy Scruggs[5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krtm_gUAadI). Cash died in September 2003, and the track appeared posthumously in 2006 on *American V: A Hundred Highways*, almost three full years after his death[1](https://www.terrain.org/articles/19/york.htm) • [2](https://johnny-cash-infocenter.com/songs/gods-gonna-cut-you-down/). An official music video for the song was released on Cash's official artist channel[9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlN9jdQFSc). As a single, the track reached No. 77 on the American singles chart in November 2008[6](https://chart-history.net/wp-content/uploads/arch-johnny-cash.pdf).
**Reach in popular culture.** The Cash recording has been licensed widely: as of June 16, 2010, a sample of the rhythm from this version was used as background music for a series of television commercials for the 2011 [Jeep Grand Cherokee](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeep-grand-cherokee), most notably the "Manifesto" advertisement, and the rapper RL sampled it in his track "God's Gonna Cut Us Down" on his album *T.H.R.E.E.*[10](https://thedailyhatch.org/2012/07/02/music-monday-people-in-the-johnny-cash-video-gods-gonna-cut-you-down/).
## Cover versions
The song's catalog of recordings is long and stylistically varied. MusicBrainz lists [Elvis Presley](https://www.edgepedia.org/elvis-presley)'s "Run On," recorded May 25 to 28, 1966, [Bobbie Gentry](https://www.edgepedia.org/bobbie-gentry)'s "Sermon" from November 11, 1967, and covers by Odetta, The Gaslight Anthem, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Shawn James & The Shapeshifters, Panzerfaust, and Ben Prestage, alongside the Cash recordings[3](https://musicbrainz.org/work/1241bc15-4b20-315d-8c0a-6d8d30c52fbd). [Marilyn Manson](https://www.edgepedia.org/marilyn-manson) recorded a version for the 2017 soundtrack of the film *24 Hours to Live*, and in October 2019 released a black-and-white video for it, filmed in Joshua Tree, California[11](https://loudwire.com/marilyn-manson-video-gods-gonna-cut-you-down/). For the Netflix series *Inside Man*, the singer John Grant recorded his own version after the composer David Arnold, reviewing a cut of the episode that used Cash's recording as a placeholder, suggested commissioning a new one[12](https://americana-uk.com/john-grant-gods-gonna-cut-you-down-hey-welcome-back-john).
Live performance of the song continues across genres. Setlist.fm counts 248 logged performances by 49 artists, led by Tom Jones with 106, and ranging from Moby and [Grace Potter](https://www.edgepedia.org/grace-potter) to Lingua Ignota, Panzerfaust, and [Lainey Wilson](https://www.edgepedia.org/lainey-wilson), with the most recent logged performance in November 2025[8](https://www.setlist.fm/song/traditional/gods-gonna-cut-you-down-3bc40420.html).
## References
1. [Jake Adam York, "Recovery: Learning the Music of History," Terrain.org](https://www.terrain.org/articles/19/york.htm)
2. [God's Gonna Cut You Down, Johnny Cash Infocenter](https://johnny-cash-infocenter.com/songs/gods-gonna-cut-you-down/)
3. [Song: God's Gonna Cut You Down, MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/work/1241bc15-4b20-315d-8c0a-6d8d30c52fbd)
4. [God's Gonna Cut You Down; Jezebel, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution](https://www.si.edu/object/gods-gonna-cut-you-down-jezebel%3Anmah_1213382)
5. [God's Gonna Cut You Down, Johnny Cash official artist channel, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krtm_gUAadI)
6. [Johnny Cash singles chart history, chart-history.net](https://chart-history.net/wp-content/uploads/arch-johnny-cash.pdf)
7. [God's Gonna Cut You Down: The Long Life of a Short Warning, Songs from the Dead podcast](https://podtail.com/en/podcast/songs-from-the-dead-10-minute-histories-of-legenda/god-s-gonna-cut-you-down-the-long-life-of-a-short-/)
8. [God's Gonna Cut You Down by [traditional], song statistics, setlist.fm](https://www.setlist.fm/song/traditional/gods-gonna-cut-you-down-3bc40420.html)
9. [Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down (Official Music Video), YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlN9jdQFSc)
10. [Music Monday: People in the Johnny Cash video, The Daily Hatch](https://thedailyhatch.org/2012/07/02/music-monday-people-in-the-johnny-cash-video-gods-gonna-cut-you-down/)
11. [Marilyn Manson Releases Cinematic Video for 'God's Gonna Cut You Down,' Loudwire](https://loudwire.com/marilyn-manson-video-gods-gonna-cut-you-down/)
12. [John Grant "God's Gonna Cut You Down," Americana UK](https://americana-uk.com/john-grant-gods-gonna-cut-you-down-hey-welcome-back-john)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Folk, traditional, and blues-rooted songs › Folk songs of the Americas*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license