Happy Birthday, Bobby Z

Bob Dylan - When He Returns
Live at Massey Hall,
Toronto CN 20 April 1980

The iron hand
it ain't no match for the iron rod,
The strongest wall will crumble and fall
to a mighty God.
For all those who have eyes
and all those who have ears
It is only He who can reduce me to tears.
Don't you cry
and don't you die
and don't you burn
For like a thief in the night,
He'll replace wrong with right
When He returns.

Truth is an arrow
and the gate is narrow
that it passes through,
He unleashed His power
at an unknown hour
that no one knew.
How long can I listen to the lies of prejudice?
How long can I stay drunk on fear out in the wilderness?
Can I cast it aside, all this loyalty and this pride?
Will I ever learn that there'll be no peace,
that the war won't cease
Until He returns?

Surrender your crown on this blood-stained ground,
take off your mask,
He sees your deeds,
He knows your needs even before you ask.
How long can you falsify and deny what is real?
How long can you hate yourself for the weakness you conceal?
Of every earthly plan that be known to man, He is unconcerned,
He's got plans of His own to set up His throne
When He returns

Robert Allen Zimmerman (Hebrew name: Zushe ben Avraham) was born on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota,^[16] and raised there and in Hibbing, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range west of Lake Superior. Research by Dylan’s biographers has shown that his paternal grandparents, Zigman and Anna Zimmerman, emigrated from Odessa in Russian Empire (now Ukraine) to the United States after the antisemitic pogroms of 1905.^[17] Dylan himself has written (in his 2004 autobiography, Chronicles) that his paternal grandmother's maiden name was Kyrgyz and her family originated from Istanbul, although she grew up in the Kağızman district of Kars in Eastern Turkey. He also wrote that his paternal grandfather was from Trabzon on the Black Sea coast of Turkey.^[18] His mother’s grandparents, Benjamin and Lybba Edelstein, were Lithuanian Jews who arrived in America in 1902




[SOURCE LINK]

Bob Dylan's Unshakeable Monotheism

PART I : THE SIXTIES

"Listen, God, look closely after him. He's more fragile than most people."
~ Joan Baez, in her autobiography Daybreak, 1968

"I'm preachin' the Word of God / I'm puttin' out your eyes"
~ Bob Dylan, "High Water" (for Charley Patton), 2001

PART II: THE SEVENTIES

"The Dylan who inspired us to look beyond banal textbooks and accepted ideologies now implores us to turn inwards to the pages of the Holy Bible, a book filled with contradictions, inaccuracies, outrages, and absurdities."
~ American Atheists press release, Tucson, Arizona, 1979

"Well, the Bible says, 'The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'."
~ Bob Dylan responding in kind, Tucson, Arizona, 1979

PART III: THE EIGHTIES

So how did Dylan describe his encounter with Jesus?
"Let's just say I had a knee-buckling experience," he told Paul Vitello of the Kansas City Times.

PART IV: THE NINETIES

Anyway, traveling around makes you think of these things, including my thoughts to drop you a line. Reflecting on this, brainwork brings you to the realization that this earth is truly God's footstool and until the entire world believes and obeys the same God, there can be no truth or justice or peace for anyone. The soul never dies and neither does it know time.
~ Bob Dylan

Zushe ben Avraham

Psalms Chapter 139

א לַמְנַצֵּחַ, לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר: יְהוָה חֲקַרְתַּנִי, וַתֵּדָע.	1 For the Leader. A Psalm of David. {N} O LORD, Thou hast searched me, and known me.
ב אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ, שִׁבְתִּי וְקוּמִי; בַּנְתָּה לְרֵעִי, מֵרָחוֹק.	2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off.
ג אָרְחִי וְרִבְעִי זֵרִיתָ; וְכָל-דְּרָכַי הִסְכַּנְתָּה.	3 Thou measurest my going about and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
ד כִּי אֵין מִלָּה, בִּלְשׁוֹנִי; הֵן יְהוָה, יָדַעְתָּ כֻלָּהּ.	4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, Thou knowest it altogether.
ה אָחוֹר וָקֶדֶם צַרְתָּנִי; וַתָּשֶׁת עָלַי כַּפֶּכָה.	5 Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, and laid Thy hand upon me.
ו פלאיה (פְּלִיאָה) דַעַת מִמֶּנִּי; נִשְׂגְּבָה, לֹא-אוּכַל לָהּ.	6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too high, I cannot attain unto it.
ז אָנָה, אֵלֵךְ מֵרוּחֶךָ; וְאָנָה, מִפָּנֶיךָ אֶבְרָח.	7 Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
ח אִם אֶסַּק שָׁמַיִם, שָׁם אָתָּה; וְאַצִּיעָה שְּׁאוֹל הִנֶּךָּ.	8 If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in the nether-world, behold, Thou art there.
ט אֶשָּׂא כַנְפֵי-שָׁחַר; אֶשְׁכְּנָה, בְּאַחֲרִית יָם.	9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
י גַּם-שָׁם, יָדְךָ תַנְחֵנִי; וְתֹאחֲזֵנִי יְמִינֶךָ.	10 Even there would Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand would hold me.
יא וָאֹמַר, אַךְ-חֹשֶׁךְ יְשׁוּפֵנִי; וְלַיְלָה, אוֹר בַּעֲדֵנִי.	11 And if I say: 'Surely the darkness shall envelop me, and the light about me shall be night';
יב גַּם-חֹשֶׁךְ, לֹא-יַחְשִׁיךְ מִמֶּךָּ: וְלַיְלָה, כַּיּוֹם יָאִיר-- כַּחֲשֵׁיכָה, כָּאוֹרָה.	12 Even the darkness is not too dark for Thee, {N} but the night shineth as the day; the darkness is even as the light.
יג כִּי-אַתָּה, קָנִיתָ כִלְיֹתָי; תְּסֻכֵּנִי, בְּבֶטֶן אִמִּי.	13 For Thou hast made my reins; Thou hast knit me together in my mother's womb.
יד אוֹדְךָ-- עַל כִּי נוֹרָאוֹת, נִפְלֵיתִי: נִפְלָאִים מַעֲשֶׂיךָ; וְנַפְשִׁי, יֹדַעַת מְאֹד.	14 I will give thanks unto Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; {N} wonderful are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
טו לֹא-נִכְחַד עָצְמִי, מִמֶּךָּ: אֲשֶׁר-עֻשֵּׂיתִי בַסֵּתֶר; רֻקַּמְתִּי, בְּתַחְתִּיּוֹת אָרֶץ.	15 My frame was not hidden from Thee, {N} when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
טז גָּלְמִי, רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ, וְעַל-סִפְרְךָ, כֻּלָּם יִכָּתֵבוּ: יָמִים יֻצָּרוּ; ולא (וְלוֹ) אֶחָד בָּהֶם.	16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance, and in Thy book they were all written-- {N} even the days that were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
יז וְלִי--מַה-יָּקְרוּ רֵעֶיךָ אֵל; מֶה עָצְמוּ, רָאשֵׁיהֶם.	17 How weighty also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
יח אֶסְפְּרֵם, מֵחוֹל יִרְבּוּן; הֱקִיצֹתִי, וְעוֹדִי עִמָּךְ.	18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand; were I to come to the end of them, I would still be with Thee.
יט אִם-תִּקְטֹל אֱלוֹהַּ רָשָׁע; וְאַנְשֵׁי דָמִים, סוּרוּ מֶנִּי.	19 If Thou but wouldest slay the wicked, O God--depart from me therefore, ye men of blood;
כ אֲשֶׁר יֹמְרוּךָ, לִמְזִמָּה; נָשׂוּא לַשָּׁוְא עָרֶיךָ.	20 Who utter Thy name with wicked thought, they take it for falsehood, even Thine enemies--
כא הֲלוֹא-מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ יְהוָה אֶשְׂנָא; וּבִתְקוֹמְמֶיךָ, אֶתְקוֹטָט.	21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate Thee? And do not I strive with those that rise up against Thee?
כב תַּכְלִית שִׂנְאָה שְׂנֵאתִים; לְאוֹיְבִים, הָיוּ לִי.	22 I hate them with utmost hatred; I count them mine enemies.
כג חָקְרֵנִי אֵל, וְדַע לְבָבִי; בְּחָנֵנִי, וְדַע שַׂרְעַפָּי.	23 Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts;
כד וּרְאֵה, אִם-דֶּרֶךְ-עֹצֶב בִּי; וּנְחֵנִי, בְּדֶרֶךְ עוֹלָם.	24 And see if there be any way in me that is grievous, and lead me in the way everlasting

Dylan Betner,
Namesake of Bobby D's
& Man of Music