Abide with Me
A prayer at the close of day, and of life, asking the Lord to stay near.
The words are public domain. We print a hymn only after checking it word for word against a dated old printing, and this one hasn’t been checked yet. Hymnary has it now.
“Abide with Me” at HymnaryAbout this hymn
The singer asks the Lord to stay close as evening falls, as friends fail and as death comes near, and trusts that the cross leads to morning.
The words come from Luke 24:29, where two disciples on the road to Emmaus ask the risen Jesus to stay with them because it is nearly evening.
It is sung at evening services and at funerals in any season. Henry Francis Lyte, an Anglican priest, wrote it in 1847, the year he died.
For musicians and planners
| Words | Henry Francis Lyte, 1847 | Public domain |
|---|---|---|
| Tune | EVENTIDE · William Henry Monk, 1861 | Public domain |
Checked 2026-09-27 against hymnary.org text, tune and person pages (attribution and rights only). The words are not transcribed here yet.
Hymn numbers checked against Hymnary.org’s index of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Full record: Hymnary.