I Lay Down My Life That I Might Take It Again

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

Text [edit]

Possibly the earliest version was written past Joseph Addison in an essay actualization in The Spectator on viii March 1711. Information technology says: ^[one]

When I lay me downwards to Sleep,
I recommend my cocky to his Care;
when I awake, I requite my cocky up to his Direction.

A later version printed in The New England Primer goes:

Now I lay me downwards to sleep,
I pray the Lord my Soul to continue[;]
If I should die earlier I 'wake,
I pray the Lord my Soul to take.^[2]

Other versions [edit]

At present I lay me downwards to sleep,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep;
If I should dice before I wake,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to have.
If I should live for other days,
I pray thee, Lord, to guide my ways.
Amen.

Now
I lay me downward to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
His Beloved to baby-sit me through the night,
And wake me in the morning time'south calorie-free amen.^[iii]

At present I lay me downward to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
May the angels watch me through the nighttime,
and keep me in their blessed sight.
Amen.

Now I lay me down to slumber,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Delight angels watch me through the night,
And go along me condom till morning low-cal.^[iii]

Now I lay me downwards to slumber,
I pray the Lord my soul to go along;
Angels watch me through the night,
And wake me with the morning time light.
Amen^[4]

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to go along;
If I shall die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take,
All the angels watching over me.
Amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to continue;
Guide me safely through the nighttime,
And wake me with the morning light.
Amen.

Now I lay me downward to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep:
Lookout and guard me through the night,
Until You bring the morning light.
Amen.

Now I lay me downwardly to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
When in the morning light I wake,
Testify me the path of dear to take.
Amen.

(Additional third poesy)
If I should alive another day,
I pray the Lord to guide my fashion.
Amen.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to go on;
For if I die earlier I wake,
That's i less test I accept to take. [Parodic]

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

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
Anoint the bed that I lie on.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels circular my head;
One to sentry and i to pray
And two to bear my soul away.^[5]

In pop civilisation [edit]

• The Doors performed a function of this prayer live in New York in 1970 as an added verse to their vocal "Soul Kitchen".
• In James O'Barr's most famous comic "The Crow", the main grapheme Eric Draven recites the prayer during the fight against Tom Tom.
• The prayer is used in the bridge of Metallica'south hit "Enter Sandman" from their 1991 eponymous album, with James switching to a deep ghost voice and saying the lines.
• Circumvolve of Dust used an edited version of this prayer in the song "Prayers of a Dead Human" from their 1994 anthology of Brainchild.
• It was used in the opening lines of Megadeth'south 1991 song "Go to Hell" from the soundtrack to the 1991 film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.
• In "Murder Was the Case", a song from his debut album Doggystyle, Snoop Dogg included a verse with this prayer.
• In Notorious B.I.G. song called "Ready to Dice" this prayer tin be heard.
• American singer-songwriter, Halsey, used this prayer in the opening lines of the song "Nightmare".^[half-dozen]
• Rapper and songwriter 21 Savage used the later version of the poem in the opening track, "Lord Forgive Me", of his album Slaughter Rex.
• Rapper and songwriter XXXTentacion used the poem in his vocal "before I close my eyes", from his album ?.
• The musical, Carrie had the poem featured in the heart of the vocal "Evening Prayers".
• In A Nightmare on Elm Street, the poem is recited by the main character earlier against Freddy.
• In A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Principal, a rhyme based on this prayer was used to defeat Freddy
• American metalcore band Water ice Nine Kills use another version of this rhyme in the bridge of their song "Communion of the Cursed", on the album Every Play tricks In The Book.
• Rapper Calboy also used this rhyme in the beginning of his song "Green-eyed Me".
• American rapper Kid Cudi features the latter ii lines of the rhyme repeatedly in the claw to his song "The Prayer," on his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi.
• The prayer is likewise mentioned in Margaret Atwood's novel The Testaments.
• The WWE used some lines of the prayer for the archway theme of The Undertaker in 2000.
• The phrase "I pray the Lord my soul to go along" appears in Bob Dylan's vocal "Whorl on John" from the album Storm.
• "If I die before I wake" is followed past the line "at least in heaven I can skate" in the 2000 acme 40 song "Heaven Is a Halfpipe" by OPM
• In the "Fathers and Sons" episode of the TV serial Blue Bloods the prayer is used.
• "Now I lay me down to slumber, I pray the Lord my soul to keep" was inscribed on the headstone of Amber Rene Hagerman in 1996 after her death.
• Keith & Kristyn Getty used the first two lines of the poem in the first poesy of "Evensong".
• In an episode of the TV series Thou*A*Due south*H, Male parent Mulcahey recites a common children's parody of the prayer: "At present I lay me downwardly to sleep / A bag of peanuts at my anxiety / If I should dice before I wake / Requite them to my Uncle Jake".
• In Poltergeist, Carol Anne recites this prayer when Ballad Anne and her mother Diane bury her pet.
• Rap grouping Czarface also used the line "If I die earlier I wake pray the lord my soul to take" in The Gift That Keeps on Giving on the 2019 album The Odd Arbiter Against Usa.

See also [edit]

• Christian child's prayer

References [edit]

1. ^ The Spectator Vol. I, 1729
2. ^ The New England Primer Archived x May 2017 at the Wayback Machine, 1750 ed., p. 23.
3. ^ ^{a b} Debbie Trafton O'Neal; Nancy Munger (1994), Now I Lay Me Downwards to Sleep: Action Prayers, Poems, and Songs for Bedtime, Augsburg Books, p. six, ISBN978-0-8066-2602-iv
4. ^ James Limburg (2006), Encountering Ecclesiastes: a book for our time, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, p. 103, ISBN978-0-8028-3047-0
5. ^ I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford Academy Printing, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), ISBN 0-19-860088-vii, pp. 357–threescore.
6. ^ Nightmare , retrieved fifteen June 2019

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_I_Lay_Me_Down_to_Sleep

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