# Jacob's ladder

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/jacobs-ladder
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

A link between the earthly and the heavenly, or by extension a long, steep climb.

## Examples

- The trail climbed a Jacob's ladder of stone steps up the cliff.
- The sailors scrambled up the Jacob's ladder slung over the side of the ship.
- From the harbour the town rose in tiers, and the only way up was a Jacob's ladder of worn steps that seemed to climb toward the sky before it ever reached the square at the top.

## Origin

In Genesis 28 Jacob, fleeing his brother, sleeps in the open with a stone for a pillow and dreams of a ladder set on the earth with its top reaching heaven, angels ascending and descending on it. He wakes convinced the place is a gateway between the human and the divine. The image of a connecting stair between earth and heaven was too vivid not to travel. It named a climbing garden plant, a rope-and-plank ship's ladder, and a children's folding-block toy, in each case borrowing the idea of rungs rising steeply upward. So Jacob's ladder in English can mean any bridge between the ordinary and the transcendent, or more plainly any long, arduous ascent.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.