The original Jacob's Ladder was the biblical ladder to heaven on which Jacob saw angels ascending and descending.

In a nautical context, a Jacob's ladder (with a lower-case "l") is a flexible hanging ladder consisting of vertical ropes or chains supporting horizontal wooden or metal rungs.

The term has been used metaphorically or as a direct reference in titles:

• A 1990 movie of the same name
• An opera of the same name (Die Jakobsleiter in German) by Arnold Schoenberg
• The spiritual "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder"
• A song on the album Readymades by Chumbawamba. Another version of it is also available for free download at their website - this version criticizes the USA's response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• A song on the album Fore! by Huey Lewis and the News
• A song on the album Permanent Waves by Rush

It has also been used to describe many vaguely ladder-like objects:

• A genus of plants, Polemonium in the family Polemoniaceae
• A string figure created as part of a children's game. See Jacob's Ladder at http://www.darsie.net/string/jacob.html
• A folk toy consisting of blocks on strings that, when held at one end, appear to cascade down the strings
• One form of a spark gap, specifically an electronic rack that causes dramatic electric arcing, often seen in movies about mad scientists
• A type of body piercing
• Another name for the Abscess root plant
• An old Indian, and then pioneer, trail between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers, rebuilt in 1910 as the first highway for the horseless carriage
• A staircase cut into the side of the Cheddar Gorge in southwest England
• A staircase of 699 steps cut into the side of the rocky cliffs on the west side of the capital of St. Helena
• The steepest portion of the Mount Washington Cog Railway
• A 100-step climb near Devil's Bridge , Wales[1][2][3]