"" (Swedish for 'God, who holds the children dear') is an old prayer for children, of unknown origin. The prayer was first printed in 1780 in ('Children's book, humbly dedicated to his Royal Highness the Crown Prince by the Pro fide et Christianismo Society'), which was published on the occasion of the Swedish crown prince's (later Gustav IV Adolf) second birthday. In the book the prayer is called "" ('A general prayer for little children') and reads as follows:
It is likely based on an orally transmitted prayer. It was first printed as a hymn in the Salvation Army songbook of 1907. It was later published in the Swedish Sunday School hymnal (1908) where three additional verses were composted by and Carl Boberg and eventually in the regular hymnal, the annex to the 1819 Swedish hymnal where extended the prayer by five additional verses, of which the first one begins "" ('Good father, in thy care').
The melody, according to was possibly composed in 1531, but in later editions the melody is attributed to in 1912. The prayer is also sometimes sung with the same melody as "Twinkle, twinkle, little star". The first printed version of the prayer was sung to the melody "".