It Is Well With My Soul Lyrics
"It Is Well With My Soul" is one of the most moving hymns of faith ever written, born out of tragedy. In 1873 Chicago lawyer Horatio Spafford lost all four daughters when the steamship Ville du Havre sank in the Atlantic; his wife survived and cabled "Saved alone." Crossing the ocean to reach her, Spafford wrote the text that begins "When peace, like a river, attendeth my way." His friend Philip Bliss set it to music in 1876, naming the tune VILLE DU HAVRE after the ship.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul. My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!— My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live: If Jordan above me shall roll, No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul. But, Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait, The sky, not the grave, is our goal; Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord! Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul! And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.
History
"It Is Well With My Soul" was written by Horatio G. Spafford (1828–1888), a Chicago lawyer, and the hymn cannot really be separated from the events that produced it. In November 1873 Spafford arranged for his wife, Anna, and their four daughters to sail ahead of him to Europe aboard the French liner Ville du Havre, while he stayed behind to attend to business.
On November 22, 1873, the Ville du Havre collided with the iron sailing vessel Lochearn and sank in about twelve minutes. All four of the Spaffords' daughters drowned. Anna survived, was carried to Cardiff, Wales, and from there sent her husband a two-word cable: "Saved alone." Spafford set out across the Atlantic to rejoin her, and he wrote the text of the hymn during that crossing — reportedly as his ship passed near the place where his daughters had died. The words begin "When peace, like a river, attendeth my way."
The music came three years later. Spafford's friend Philip P. Bliss (1838–1876) — a hymn composer who worked alongside the evangelist Dwight L. Moody and the song-leader Ira Sankey — wrote the tune and named it VILLE DU HAVRE after the ship that had been lost. Spafford's text and Bliss's tune first appeared together in Gospel Hymns No. 2 in 1876, and that pairing is the version congregations have sung ever since.
Cultural Significance
"It Is Well With My Soul" has become one of the most loved hymns of comfort in grief. It appears in hundreds of hymnals — well over five hundred — and it is a staple at funerals and memorial services, where its statement of peace held onto in loss speaks directly to the moment. Few hymns are so closely associated with mourning, and fewer still offer that kind of steadiness from inside the grief rather than at a distance from it.
Part of the hymn's power is that the backstory is inseparable from how it's received. Many singers know that Spafford wrote these words after losing all four of his daughters at sea, and that knowledge changes the weight of the refrain. The line "It is well with my soul" lands differently once you know it was written by a father crossing the same ocean that had taken his children. The hymn has endured because its assurance was so plainly earned.
Memorizing It Is Well With My Soul
"It Is Well With My Soul" is a rewarding hymn to commit to memory, and for choir singers there's a real payoff — knowing the verses by heart means you can watch the director, blend with your section, and stay present with the congregation instead of reading from the hymnal. Several features of the hymn make memorization easier, and each one maps onto how Lines works:
- The refrain is your anchor. "It is well, it is well, with my soul" returns after every verse. Master the refrain first and it gives the whole hymn a stable point to return to — every verse simply has to lead you back into words you already own.
- Each verse is a chunk. The stanzas are short and self-contained, sung to the same repeating melody. Learn them one verse at a time rather than as a single long passage — chunking turns the hymn into a handful of small, manageable units.
- The story is an extra cue. Because the words came straight out of Spafford's loss, the text follows a felt arc rather than a random sequence. Tying each line to its meaning gives your memory a second path to the words, so if the melody alone isn't enough, the sense of the verse carries you.
- The melody is a scaffold. The tune's contour carries forward information about the next word, so the melody itself cues the line. Singing the words aloud, rather than reading them silently, gives your memory a strong sequence to ride on.
- Order is the real work. Since every verse uses the same tune and lands on the same refrain, the hard part is keeping the verses in sequence. Spaced practice plus sleep consolidation is what locks that order in, which is why returning to the hymn over several short sessions beats one long cram.
Lines is built around exactly this approach. Its five progressive practice modes walk you from recognizing the words to producing them from memory, one verse-chunk at a time, on a spacing schedule that consolidates the sequence between sessions. Practice "It Is Well With My Soul" verse by verse in Lines and you'll have the refrain and every verse ready to sing without opening the hymnal.
Memorize with Lines
Want to learn "It Is Well With My Soul" and other classic hymns by heart? Download Lines, our iOS app designed to help you memorize and retain lyrics through five progressive practice modes, chunking, and spaced practice. Perfect for choir singers, worship leaders, and anyone who wants to sing the verses with their eyes up.