"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 and was sung by the crew and passengers of the as it sank off the Canadian coast in 1906. Lyrics 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! Text and music The verse was written by the English poet and Unitarian hymn writer Sarah Flower Adams at her home "Sunnybank",