{
 "id": "john-newton/jacobs-ladder",
 "title": "Jacob’s Ladder",
 "ordinal": "9",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 9,
 "container": "Book I On Select Texts of Scripture",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1779,
  "venue": "Olney Hymns (1779)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_olney-hymns-in-three-bo_newton-john_1779",
   "https://cowperandnewtonmuseum.org.uk/bulletin/computerised-index-to-the-olney-hymns/",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns",
  "file": "book-1.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Olney_Hymns_%281840%29",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-15"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 40,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 5,
  "longest_line_chars": 37,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [
  {
   "ordinal": "I",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    0,
    1
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "II",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    1,
    2
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "III",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    2,
    3
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IV",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    3,
    4
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    4,
    5
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "If the Lord our leader be,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We may follow without fear;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "East or west, by land or sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Home with him is every where.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When from Esau Jacob fled,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though his pillow was a stone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the ground his humble bed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet he was not left alone.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Kings are often waking kept,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rack’d with cares on beds of state:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Never king like Jacob slept,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For he lay at heaven’s gate.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lo! he saw a ladder rear’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reaching to the heavenly throne;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At the top the Lord appeared,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Spake, and claim’d him for his own:⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Fear not, Jacob, thou art mine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And my presence with thee goes;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On thy heart my love shall shine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And my arm subdue thy foes:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From my promise comfort take,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For my help in trouble call;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Never will I thee forsake",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till I have accomplish’d all.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Well does Jacob’s ladder suit",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the gospel throne of grace;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We are at the ladder’s foot,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Every hour, in every place.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By assuming flesh and blood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesus heaven and earth unites;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We by faith ascend to God,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God to dwell with us delights.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They who know the Saviour’s name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are for all events prepared;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What can changes do to them,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who have such a guide and guard?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Should they traverse earth around,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the ladder still they come:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Every spot is holy ground⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God is there, and he’s their home.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}