The God Squad: Origin of nighttime prayer is obscure

Q: As I approach my 74th birthday, I recall saying a nightly prayer as a child:

“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.”

I wonder where this prayer came from. Can you help me?

— J., via godsquadquestion@aol.com

A: Like the parable of the long spoons, which I discussed recently, this is also a famous spiritual gem whose origins are obscure. Some say it is an Old English prayer, but I am not sure. The language is not Old English-y enough. The most convincing theory comes from a visitor to an Internet site Glory to God for All Things, brings up commenter Anam Cara, who offers this learned suggestion:

“Matthew, Mark, Luke and John” was once the best known prayer in England, used more often than the Lord’s Prayer. It was called the “White Paternoster.”

The site lists the prayer as:

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,

Bless the bed that I lie on.

There are four corners to my bed,

Four angels round my head,

One to watch, and one to pray,

And two to bear my soul away.

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.

However, Cara writes that the above version is a combination of two prayers. The “White Paternoster” was “first found in print in Thomas Fleet’s New England Primer, the first edition is from 1737,” Cara writes. “As a nursery rhyme, it first appeared in 1840 in London Jingles by J.G. Rush.”

He or she offers a different version:

I lay me down to rest me,

I pray to God to bless me;

If I should sleep and never wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

One version of the prayer I found omits the scary reference to “if I die before I wake” with this emendation:

Now I lay me down to sleep;

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

Thy love guard me through the night,

And wake me with the morning light.

Some have also tried to blunt the fear of death in this prayer by adding one additional line to the short version:

If I live another day, I pray the Lord to guide my way.

And then, I found a much longer version, which goes something like this:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep;

When in the morning light I wake,

Teach me the path of love to take.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep;

Guard me Jesus through the night,

And wake me with the morning light.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the lord my soul to keep,

thy angels watch me through the night,

And keep me safe till morning’s light.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the lord my soul to keep,

May angels watch me through the night,

And keep me in their blessed sight.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep;

See me safely through the night,

And wake me with the morning’s light.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

Guide me through the starry night,

Wake me when the sun shines bright,

For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep;

Guide us through the starry night,

and wake us with the morning’s light.

I ask not for myself alone,

but for thy children — every one.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep;

If I die before I wake

I pray the lord my soul to take

Amen

In my searches I found an interesting but unsubstantiated factoid: that President John Adams said this prayer every night before he went to sleep.

I say this prayer often at night. It helps to remind me that we are always in God’s care and that at night we drift off into that hazy land where hope and fear mingle. The very last words I say at a Jewish funeral at the edge of the grave are: “God has given, and God has taken away. Blessed is the name of the Lord.” I like the children’s prayer better, but it comes to the same bracing spiritual point.

Faith — true, mature faith — challenges us to accept and love not just a God who gives things to us but also a God who takes everything away. It is the sobering truth that everything we have in life, including life itself is ultimately a gift — a loving loan from the God of life and death.

MARC GELLMAN is the senior rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Melville, N.Y., where he has served since 1981. Send questions only to godsquadquestion@aol.com.