CHRISTIAN LIFE >> PILGRIMAGE
SDAH 628
As Jacob with travel was weary one day,
At night on a stone for a pillow he lay;
He saw in a vision a ladder so high
That its foot was on earth and its top in the sky.
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For Worship Leaders
Make each hymn more meaningful with these helpful tools: Short, ready-to-use hymn introductions for church bulletins, multiple ways to introduce a hymn based on your worship theme and in-depth history and insights to enrich your song service.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
Not all carols are about the birth of Christ. This happy sounding one is a delightful way to sing about and tell again the story of Genesis 28:10-12: “And Jacob… went toward Haran…. And he … tarried there all night… and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows… And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” At first thought, climbing a ladder round by round seems like working one’s way to heaven. But the refrain beautifully brings us back each time to the truth that the ladder is righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ, who has “raised up a ladder of mercy for me.” Children of all ages will enjoy singing this. It is probably of eighteenth-century English origin. The Oxford Book of Carols makes this comment: “This is apparently a carol to which new words were fitted under the influence of the Methodist revival.”
Gerald Hocken Knight was born July 27, 1908, at Wyngarvey, near St. Austell, Cornwall, England. He was educated at Truro Cathedral School, Peterhouse, Cambridge (where he was choral scholar); College of St. Nicholas, Chislehurst; and the Royal College of Music, and received the B.A., M.A., and B.Mus. degrees. His distinguished career includes positions as organist at Truro Cathedral, Peterhouse, in Cambridge; organist and choirmaster at St. Augustine’s, Queensgate; and the same position at the great Canterbury Cathedral from 1937 to 1952. During World War II he served as an airman and education officer in the Royal Air Force. He was associate director of the Royal School of Church Music from 1947 to 1952, and became director in that final year. In addition to composing and arranging much church music, he wrote the music for two of Dorothy L. Sayers’ musical plays, performed at Canterbury Cathedral. When Hymns Ancient and Modern was revised in 1950, he was one of the musical editors. He died in 1979.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
As Jacob with travel was weary one day,
At night on a stone for a pillow he lay;
He saw in a vision a ladder so high
That its foot was on earth and its top in the sky.
Refrain
Alleluia to Jesus who died on the tree,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me.
2
Come let us ascend! All may climb it who will;
For the angels of Jacob are guarding it still:
And remember each step that by faith we passo’er,
Some prophet or martyr has trod it before.
3
And when we arrive at the haven of rest
We shall hear the glad words, “Come up hither, ye blest,
Here are regions of light, here are mansions of bliss.”
O who would not climb such a ladder as this?
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Gen 28:12 (d) Rev 11:12
Author
Anonymous
Year Published
18th century
Performance Suggestions
Unison
Copyright
Music reprinted by permission of the executors of the late Gerald H. Knight
Hymn Tune
JACOB’S LADDER
Metrical Number
11.11.11.11.Ref.
Arranged
G.H. Knight (1908-1979)
Tune Source
English carol melody
Year Composed
18th century
