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.

(Refrain) 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.

(Refrain) Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy given;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

(Refrain) 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

(Refrain) Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.

Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly.
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

(Refrain) Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest.
Age after age to be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

(Refrain) Nearer, my God, to Thee
Nearer to Thee.

Nearer my God to Thee is based on the story of Jacob and his dream of a ladder or ramp reaching from earth to heaven as recorded in Genesis 28: 10-22. Sarah Adams beautifully captures the spirit of this passage in the second third and fourth stanzas of this hymn, which has given particular comfort to the dying and bereaved.

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Nearer my God to Thee was played at the funerals of U.S. presidents James Garfield, William McKinley and Gerald Ford, and according to survivors, was played by the band as the great ship Titanic sank in waters of the coast of Newfoundland, in 1912.