Lyrics
All praise to Thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light;
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath Thine own almighty wings.
Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done,
That with the world, myself, and Thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.
Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed;
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the judgment day.
O may my soul on Thee repose,
And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that may me more vigorous make
To serve my God when I awake.
When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
No powers of darkness me molest.
O when shall I, in endless day,
Forever chase dark sleep away,
And hymns divine with angels sing,
All praise to Thee, eternal King?
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Public domain hymn text (1674). Words by Thomas Ken.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Thomas Ken, an English clergyman later consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells, wrote 'All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night' in 1674 as an evening hymn specifically for the students of Winchester College, where he served as a fellow and chaplain.
Ken wrote a matching pair of morning and evening hymns for the students' daily private devotions, instructing them, according to his own published preface, to sing the hymns quietly to themselves rather than merely read them, treating the practice as genuine devotional discipline rather than only literary exercise.
The hymn's central, somewhat startling request, to 'dread the grave as little as my bed,' draws a direct comparison between the nightly, ordinary act of sleep and the ultimate, final act of death, treating one as a kind of daily practice for the other.
That comparison reflects a broader devotional tradition, common in the period, of using each night's sleep as a deliberate occasion for self-examination and preparation, confessing the day's specific failures before rest rather than leaving them unexamined.
Ken's hymn is almost always sung to TALLIS' CANON, a tune composed roughly a century earlier by Thomas Tallis, one of the most important English composers of the Tudor period, whose sacred music remains foundational to the English choral tradition.
Ken later became known for his outspoken independence as bishop, including his refusal to read King James II's Declaration of Indulgence from the pulpit, a stand that led to his brief imprisonment in the Tower of London, well after this hymn had already been written.
The hymn, along with its companion morning hymn, remained standard texts in English hymnals for centuries, valued for modeling a specific, structured practice of nightly self-examination and peace-making before sleep, rather than offering only general comfort.
