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Psalm 100:2
Serve the LORD with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.
1A Psalm of thanksgiving. Shout for joy to the LORD, all you lands!
2Serve the LORD with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.
3Know that the LORD, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name.
Notice
Gladness shapes the service described here, and singing gives it a voice: approaching YHWH includes joy expressed in his presence.
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Philippians 4:4Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”Both passages command joy directed toward the Lord, with Philippians repeating its command to rejoice.
Psalm 95:2Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let’s extol him with songs!Both psalms speak of coming before God's presence with song, and Psalm 95 names thanksgiving as well.
Psalm 71:23My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you!Singing and joy belong together in both verses; Psalm 71 names redemption as a reason for praise.
Acts 2:46–47Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,Gladness appears in both texts, in service before the LORD here and in shared meals among believers in Acts.
2 Chronicles 20:27–28Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to …Both texts connect joy with the LORD; Chronicles describes people returning to Jerusalem because he had made them rejoice.
Deuteronomy 28:47Because you didn’t serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;Both passages join serving the LORD with gladness; Deuteronomy names Israel's failure to serve that way amid abundance.
Psalm 107:21–22Let them praise the LORD for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!Both passages urge an expressed response to the LORD: singing in Psalm 100 and praise for his deeds in Psalm 107.
Psalm 42:4These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house, with the voice of joy and praise, a …Both describe approaching God with voiced joy, though Psalm 42 remembers worship with a crowd from a place of sorrow.
Deuteronomy 12:12You shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levite who is within your …Both passages command joy before the LORD, and Deuteronomy names the household and the Levite among those who rejoice.
Deuteronomy 16:11You shall rejoice before the LORD your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the …Both passages command rejoicing before the LORD; Deuteronomy includes the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow in that rejoicing.
Deuteronomy 16:14You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow …Both command joy, with Deuteronomy describing a feast whose rejoicing includes servants and people without family support.
1 Kings 8:66On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad in their hearts for all the goodness that the …Gladness marks the response to the LORD in both texts; Kings connects the people's joy to goodness he had shown.
Where this verse fits
Praise and worship. gratitude. an ordinary day.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Gladness has a place in serving God. YHWH who made his people and names them as his own tells them to come before him with singing.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).