Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

World War I poster of the United States

Now I lay me down to sleep is a classic children's bedtime prayer from the 18th century.

Text

Perhaps the earliest version was written by George Wheler in his 1698 book The Protestant Monastery, which reads:

Upon lying down, and going to ſleep.

Here I lay me down to ſleep.
To thee, O Lord, I give my Soul to keep,
Wake I ever, Or, Wake I never;
To thee O Lord, I give my Soul to keep for ever.

A later version printed in The New England Primer goes:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my Soul to keep[;]
If I should die before I 'wake,
I pray the Lord my Soul to take.

Other versions

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray my lord my soul to keep, In the morn when I awake Please teach me the path of life to take. Grace Bridges 1932

Now
I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
His Love to guard me through the night,
And wake me in the morning's light amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Please angels watch me through the night,
And keep me safe till morning light.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Angels watch me through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.
Amen

Now I wake to see the light,
As God has kept me through the night;
And now I lift my voice to pray,
That Thou wilt keep me through the day.

It is sometimes combined with the "Black Paternoster", one version of which goes:

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head;
One to watch and one to pray
And two to bear my soul away.

In popular culture

• American thrash metal band Megadeth uses this prayer in their song "Go to Hell".
• Final verse of Ron Miller's "Heaven Help Us All," first recorded and released by Stevie Wonder in 1970: "Now I lay me down before I go to sleep/ In a troubled world I pray the Lord to keep/ Keep hatred from the mighty/ And the mighty from the small/ Heaven help us all"
• American thrash metal band Metallica uses this prayer in the song "Enter Sandman".
• Bob Dylan uses "I pray the Lord my soul to keep" in the song "Roll on John" (2012).
• Rapper Snoop Dogg uses this prayer in his song "Murder Was the Case".
• Rapper Sean Combs uses this prayer in The Notorious B.I.G.'s song "Ready to Die", from his album of the same name.
• Rapper Kid Cudi uses this prayer in the chorus of the song "The Prayer".
• Rapper G-Eazy uses this prayer in his song "Me, Myself & I".
• Blackbear uses the prayer "I pray the Lord my soul to keep" in his song "Do Re Mi"
• Rapper Kendrick Lamar uses the line "If I should die before I wake" in the hook of the song 'The Relevant'
• Rapper XXXTentacion rewrites this prayer in his song "Before I Close My Eyes".
• Singer-songwriter Halsey uses this prayer in the opening lines of the song "Nightmare".
• Record producer Frankie Knuckles uses the prayer in the opening lines of the track "Baby Wants To Ride".
• Rapper JID uses the prayer in the opening verse of his song "Kody Blu 31".
• Singer Jordin Sparks uses the line "If I should die before I wake" as the first lines in her song "No Air".
• American Industrial Rock band Sister Machine Gun uses this prayer in the song "Sins of the Flesh".
• The books in Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series are named from the prayer, and deviations thereof.
• In Poltergeist, Carol Anne recites this prayer when she and Diane, Carol Anne's mother, bury her pet canary in their garden.
• In Bad Times at the El Royale, Laramie Seymour Sullivan recites this prayer to his daughter on the phone before bedtime.
• In ‘’Nightmare On Elm Street’’, when Nancy goes to bed to her final battle with Freddy Krueger .
• In Altar Boyz, during La Vida Eternal
• Belgian hardcore DJ DRS uses this prayer in the introduction of his Thunderdome set in 2022.
• JID uses "as I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep" in the song "Kody Blu 31" (2022).
• Rapper JPEGMafia uses lines from this prayer in the chorus of his song "the 27 club" from his 2016 album "Black Ben Carson".
• Singer Fletcher references lines from this poem in her song "Girl of my Dreams" from her album of the same name

See also

• Christian child's prayer – Easily memorable prayers recited by children
• Adon Olam - a Jewish prayer bearing some similarities