Though clearly circulating in oral form earlier, the earliest established date for a written form of the prayer is various versions printed in newspaper articles in the early 1930s by or reporting on talks given by Winnifred Crane Wygal, a pupil and collaborator of Niebuhr's.^[1] Wygal included the following version of the prayer in her 1940 book, We Plan Our Own Worship Services, attributing it to Niebuhr:

O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed,

The courage to change what can be changed,

and the wisdom to know the one from the other

Various other authors cited Niebuhr as the source of the prayer from 1937 on.^[1] Niebuhr included the prayer in a sermon at least as early as 1943, followed closely by its inclusion in a Federal Council of Churches (FCC) book for army chaplains and servicemen in 1944. Niebuhr himself did not publish the Serenity Prayer until 1951, in one of his magazine columns, although it had previously appeared under his name.^[1][3] The prayer is cited both by Niebuhr^[4] and by Niebuhr's daughter, Elisabeth Sifton.^[5] Sifton thought that he had first written it in 1943, although Niebuhr's wife wrote in an unpublished memorandum that it had been written in 1941 or '42, adding that it may have been used in prayers as early as 1934. Niebuhr himself was quoted in the January 1950 Grapevine^[6] as saying the prayer "may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I don't think so. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself."^[7] In his book Niebuhr recalls that his prayer was circulated by the FCC and later by the United States armed forces.^[8] Niebuhr's versions of the prayer were always printed as a single prose sentence; printings that set out the prayer as three lines of verse modify the author's original version.

The most usual form of the prayer attributed to Niebuhr is a late version, as it includes a reference to grace (theology) not found before 1951:^[1]

God, give me grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

An approximate version (apparently quoted from memory) appears in the "Queries and Answers" column in The New York Times Book Review, July 2, 1950, p. 23, which asks for the author of the quotation; and a reply in the same column in the issue for August 13, 1950, p. 19, where the quotation is attributed to Niebuhr and an unidentified printed text is quoted as follows:

O God and Heavenly Father,

Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from the other, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

The prayer became more widely known after being brought to the attention of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1941 by an early member.^[9] The co-founder, William Griffith Wilson, and the staff liked the prayer and had it printed out in modified form and handed around. It has been part of Alcoholics Anonymous ever since, and has also been used in other twelve-step programs. Grapevine, The International Journal of Alcoholics Anonymous, identified Niebuhr as the author (January 1950, pp. 67), and the AA web site continues to identify Niebuhr as the author.^[7]

In 2008 and 2014, Yale Book of Quotations editor Fred R. Shapiro published evidence showing that versions of the Serenity Prayer^[10][1] were in use as early as 1933; though usually not explicitly attributed to Niebuhr, the articles were by or about talks by Niebuhr's student and close collaborator Winnifred Crane Wygal, who included an early version of the prayer in a 1932 diary and attributed this to Niebuhr.^[1] All early recorded usages, in its various forms of circulation and improvisation, were from women typically involved in volunteer or educational activities connected to the YWCA; Wygal was a longtime YWCA official.^[11][1] In 2009, Duke researcher Stephen Goranson found a variant attributed to Niebuhr in a 1937 Christian student publication:

"Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other."

This form, requesting 'courage to change' before petitioning for serenity, matches the other earliest published forms found to date. The earliest, in 1936, mentions that during a speech, a Miss Mildred Pinkerton "quotes the prayer," as if to indicate it was already in a circulation known to the reporter, or that Pinkerton relayed it as a quote. The 1938 version contains the same order, albeit in a flowing, slightly improvised fashion.^[11] Shapiro will list the Serenity Prayer under Niebuhrs name in the next edition of the Yale Book of Quotations.^[12]