The lyrics address the tendency of Americans to believe that God will invariably side with them and oppose those with whom they disagree, thus leaving unquestioned the morality of wars fought and atrocities committed by their country. Dylan mentions several historical events, including the slaughter of Native Americans in the nineteenth century, the Spanish–American War, the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, The Holocaust, the Cold War and the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot; the song made no explicit reference to the Vietnam War until live renditions in the 1980s, when an additional verse ran thus:
In the nineteen-sixties came the Vietnam War
Can somebody tell me what we’re fightin' for?
So many young men died
So many mothers cried
Now I ask the question
Was God on our side?
WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE LYRICS
Oh my name it ain't nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I’s taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that the land that I live in
Has God on its side
Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Ah the country was young
With God on its side
The Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I’s made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side
The First World War boys
It came and it went
The reason for fightin'
I never did get
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don’t count the dead
When God’s on your side
The Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And then we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side
I’ve learned to hate the Russians
All through my whole life
If another war comes
It’s them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side
But now we got weapons
Of chemical dust
If fire them we’re forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And ya' never ask questions
When God’s on your side
Through many dark hour
I been thinking about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for ya'
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Is cariot
Had God on his side
So now as I’m leavin'
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And they fall to the floor
If God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war
