page_title: Nearer, My God, to Thee
section_title: Lyrics
hierarchical_section_title: Nearer, My God, to Thee / Lyrics
caption_attribution_description: English: Jacob's Dream statue and artwork on the campus of Abilene Christian University
context_page_description: "Nearer, My God, to Thee" is a 19th-century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, which retells the story of Jacob's dream. Genesis 28:11–12 can be translated as follows: "So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it..."
  The hymn is well known, among other uses, as the alleged last song the band on RMS Titanic played before the ship sank.
context_section_description: The lyrics to the hymn are as follows:
  Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
  E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me;
  Still all my song shall be nearer, my God, to Thee,
  Chorus: Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
  Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
  Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
  Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer, my God, to Thee,
  Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
  There let the way appear steps unto heav'n;
  All that Thou sendest me in mercy giv'n;
  Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee,
  Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
  Then with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
  Out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;
  So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee,
  Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
  Or if on joyful wing, cleaving the sky,
  Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upwards I fly,
  Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee,
  Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
  A sixth verse was later added to the hymn by Edward Henry Bickersteth Jr. as follows:
  There in my Father's home, safe and at rest,
  There in my Saviour's love, perfectly blest;
  Age after age to be, nearer my God to Thee,
  Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
caption: "Jacob's Dream", artwork on the campus of
  Abilene Christian University.
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK Z1285 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "116", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:02:16 11:31:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:02:16 11:31:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "26/3", "EXIF ApertureValue": "47/10", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "47/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "88", "EXIF FocalLength": "377/50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "64", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "36", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}