108 Bible Verses about Joy

In the Old Testament, they celebrated joy with feasts and festivals. My joy comes from discovering God's will for my life, which the Bible reveals is good, pleasing, and perfect. It's not about what's happening around me or how I'm feeling at the moment, but about finding true joy in the salvation I have in Jesus.

I want to encourage you today to let go of any sadness you're holding onto. Cast out bitterness and resentment from your heart, and let the everlasting joy of Jesus flood your soul. You'll find you have so much to smile about, and so much less to feel down about.

Think about it: everything around you was created by God for your enjoyment. So smile for Him, and let your heart overflow with love in His presence. That gray sky will soon disappear, and He’ll paint a rainbow just for you.

He’s turned my mourning into dancing; He’s filled me with joy. Sure, life isn’t always happy-go-lucky, but in God, I find peace because I trust that He’s working everything out for my good (Romans 8:28).

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice.

each one giving, just as he has determined in his heart, neither out of sadness, nor out of obligation. For God loves a cheerful giver.

A man rejoices in the verdict of his own mouth. And a word at the right time is best.

They have cast me out, and now they have surrounded me. They have cast their eyes down to the earth.

For your testimonies are also my meditation, and your justifications are my counsel.

in hope, rejoicing; in tribulation, enduring; in prayer, ever-willing;

Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing.

Give thanks in everything. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for all of you.

Therefore, you also, indeed, have sorrow now. But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice. And no one will take away your joy from you.

A Psalm of David himself. I will sing mercy and judgment to you, O Lord. I will sing psalms.

And I will have understanding within the immaculate way, when you will draw near to me. I wandered about in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house.

A joyful soul makes a lifetime flourish. A gloomy spirit dries out the bones.

My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.

I will confess to you, Lord, with my whole heart. I will recount all your wonders.

The expectation of the just is rejoicing. But the hope of the impious will perish.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God.

The Lord your God is the strength in your midst; he will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. In his love, he will be silent. He will exult over you with praise.

And I will enter, up to the altar of God, to God who enlivens my youthfulness. To you, O God, my God, I will confess upon a stringed instrument.

So then, go and eat your bread with rejoicing, and drink your wine with gladness. For your works are pleasing to God.

The voice of the Lord cuts through the flame of fire.

And I realize that there is nothing better than to rejoice, and to do well in this life.

For this is a gift from God: when each man eats and drinks, and sees the good results of his labor.

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but rather justice and peace and joy, in the Holy Spirit.

For the fig tree will not flower, and there will be no bud on the vines. The labor of the olive tree will be misleading, and the farmland will produce no food. The sheep will be cut off from the sheepfold, and there will be no herd at the manger.

But I will rejoice in the Lord; and I will exult in God my Jesus.

For though you have not seen him, you love him. In him also, though you do not see him, you now believe. And in believing, you shall exult with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

You will lead me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me. For you are my protector.

For my life has fallen into sorrow, and my years into sighing. My virtue has been weakened in poverty, and my bones have been disturbed.

To David, when he changed his appearance in the sight of Abimelech, and so he dismissed him, and he went away.

May they become like dust before the face of the wind, and let the Angel of the Lord hem them in.

I have become stuck in a deep quagmire, and there is no firm footing. I have arrived at the height of the sea, and a tempest has overwhelmed me.

My throne is prepared from of old. You are from everlasting.

It is in vain that you rise before daylight, that you rise up after you have sat down, you who chew the bread of sorrow. Whereas, to his beloved, he will give sleep.

Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb.

O Lord, all eyes hope in you, and you provide their food in due time.

Let Israel rejoice in him who made them, and let the sons of Zion exult in their king.

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evils. But gladness follows those who take up counsels of peace.

A rejoicing heart gladdens the face. But by the grief of the soul, the spirit is cast down.

All the days of the poor are evil. A secure mind is like a continual feast.

The light of the eyes rejoices the soul. A good reputation fattens the bones.

It is gladness for the just to do judgment; and it is dread for those who work iniquity.

God has given, to the man who is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and rejoicing. But to the sinner, he has given affliction and needless worrying, so as to add, and to gather, and to deliver, to him who has pleased God. But this, too, is emptiness and a hollow worrying of the mind.

And then he will not fully remember the days of his life, because God occupies his heart with delights.

Behold, God is my savior, I will act faithfully, and I will not be afraid. For the Lord is my strength and my praise, and he has become my salvation."

You will draw water with gladness from the fountains of the Savior.

And the redeemed of the Lord will be converted, and they will return to Zion with praising. And everlasting joy will be upon their heads. They will obtain gladness and rejoicing. For pain and sorrow will flee away.

And now, those who have been redeemed by the Lord will return. And they will arrive in Zion, praising. And everlasting rejoicing will be upon their heads. They will take hold of gladness and rejoicing. Anguish and mourning will flee away.

For you will go forth rejoicing, and you will be led forward in peace. The mountains and the hills will sing praise before you, and all the trees of the countryside will clap their hands.

to take up the mourners of Zion and to give them a crown in place of ashes, an oil of joy in place of mourning, a cloak of praise in place of a spirit of grief. And there, they shall be called the strong ones of justice, the planting of the Lord, unto glorification.

I discovered your words and I consumed them. And your word became to me as the gladness and joy of my heart. For your name has been invoked over me, O Lord, the God of hosts.

Then the virgin will rejoice with singing, the young and the old together, and I will turn their mourning into gladness, and I will console them and gladden them after their sorrow.

be glad and exult, for your reward in heaven is plentiful. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

His lord said to him: 'Well done, good and faithful servant. Since you have been faithful over a few things, I will appoint you over many things. Enter into the gladness of your lord.'

And they went out of the tomb quickly, with fear and in great joy, running to announce it to his disciples.

And my spirit leaps for joy in God my Saviour.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who are weeping now, for you shall laugh.

Yet truly, do not choose to rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

I say to you, that there will be so much more joy in heaven over one sinner repenting, than over the ninety-nine just, who do not need to repent.

So I say to you, there will be joy before the Angels of God over even one sinner who is repentant."

These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be fulfilled.

Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall mourn and weep, but the world will rejoice. And you shall be greatly saddened, yet your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

And now I am coming to you. But I am speaking these things in the world, so that they may have the fullness of my joy within themselves.

You have made known to me the ways of life. You will completely fill me with happiness by your presence.'

The disciples were likewise filled with gladness and with the Holy Spirit.

For through him we also have access by faith to this grace, in which we stand firm, and to glory, in the hope of the glory of the sons of God.

Now the law entered in such a way that offenses would abound. But where offenses were abundant, grace was superabundant.

So then, just as sin has reigned unto death, so also may grace reign through justice unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And not only that, but we also find glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation exercises patience,

So may the God of hope fill you with every joy and with peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope and in the virtue of the Holy Spirit.

Great is my confidence in you. Great is my glorying over you. I have been filled with consolation. I have a superabundant joy throughout all our tribulation.

But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance,

always, in all my prayers, making supplication for all of you with joy,

And over this same thing, you also should rejoice and give thanks, together with me.

Concerning other things, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is certainly not tiresome for me to write the same things to you, but for you, it is not necessary.

And so shall the peace of God, which exceeds all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

being strengthened in every virtue, in accord with the power of his glory, with all patience and longsuffering, with joy,

Let the word of Christ live in you in abundance, with all wisdom, teaching and correcting one another, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing to God with the grace in your hearts.

And so, you became imitators of us and of the Lord, accepting the Word in the midst of great tribulation, but with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Rejoice always.

desiring to see you, recalling your tears so as to be filled with joy,

Let us gaze upon Jesus, as the Author and the completion of our faith, who, having joy laid out before him, endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and who now sits at the right hand of the throne of God.

My brothers, when you have fallen into various trials, consider everything a joy,

For the anger of man does not accomplish the justice of God.

Because of this, having cast away all uncleanness and an abundance of malice, receive with meekness the newly-grafted Word, which is able to save your souls.

So be doers of the Word, and not listeners only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a listener of the Word, but not also a doer, he is comparable to a man gazing into a mirror upon the face that he was born with;

and after considering himself, he went away and promptly forgot what he had seen.

But he who gazes upon the perfect law of liberty, and who remains in it, is not a forgetful hearer, but instead a doer of the work. He shall be blessed in what he does.

But if anyone considers himself to be religious, but he does not restrain his tongue, but instead seduces his own heart: such a one's religion is vanity.

This is religion, clean and undefiled before God the Father: to visit orphans and widows in their tribulations, and to keep yourself immaculate, apart from this age.

knowing that the proving of your faith exercises patience,

But instead, commune in the Passion of Christ, and be glad that, when his glory will be revealed, you too may rejoice with exultation.

And this we write to you, so that you may rejoice, and so that your joy may be full.

Their throat is an open sepulcher. They have acted deceitfully with their tongues. Judge them, O God. Let them fall by their own intentions: according to the multitude of their impiety, expel them. For they have provoked you, O Lord.

But the counsel of the Lord remains for eternity, the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation.

They will be inebriated with the fruitfulness of your house, and you will give them to drink from the torrent of your enjoyment.

A Canticle Psalm. To the sons of Korah, on the second Sabbath.

We have been rejoicing, because of the days in which you humbled us, because of the years in which we saw evils.

Look down upon your servants and upon their works, and direct their sons.

A Canticle of David himself, when the house was built after the captivity. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Say among the Gentiles: The Lord has reigned. For he has even corrected the whole world, which will not be shaken. He will judge the peoples with fairness.

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult; let the sea and all its fullness be moved.

The fields and all the things that are in them will be glad. Then all the trees of the forest will rejoice

before the face of the Lord: for he arrives. For he arrives to judge the earth. He will judge the whole world with fairness and the peoples with his truth.

Sing to the Lord and bless his name. Announce his salvation from day to day.

Blessed is the man who has filled his desire from these things. He will not be confounded when he speaks to his enemies at the gate.

You have increased the nation, but you have not increased the rejoicing. They will rejoice before you, like those who rejoice at the harvest, like the victorious exulting after capturing the prey, when they divide the spoils.

And the meek will increase their rejoicing in the Lord, and the poor among men will exult in the Holy One of Israel.

Give praise, O heavens! And exult, O earth! Let the mountains give praise with jubilation! For the Lord has consoled his people, and he will take pity on his poor ones.

I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, and my soul will exult in my God. For he has clothed me with the vestments of salvation, and he has wrapped me in the clothing of justice, like a groom arrayed with a crown, and like a bride adorned with her jewels.

You will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like a plant, and the hand of the Lord will be known to his servants, and he will be angry with his enemies.

And I will build you up again. And you shall be built up, O virgin of Israel. Still shall you be adorned with your timbrels, and still shall you go forth to the singing of those who play.

the voice of gladness and the voice of rejoicing, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: 'Confess to the Lord of hosts! For the Lord is good! For his mercy is eternal!' and the voice of those fulfilling their vows in the house of the Lord. For I will lead back the turning away of the land, just as from the beginning, says the Lord."

But I will rejoice in the Lord; and I will exult in God my Jesus.

Then, seeing the star, they were gladdened by a very great joy.

And the Angel said to them: "Do not be afraid. For, behold, I proclaim to you a great joy, which will be for all the people.

And hurrying, he came down, and he received him joyfully.

He who holds the bride is the groom. But the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to Him, rejoices joyfully at the voice of the groom. And so, this, my joy, has been fulfilled.

And many of the paralytics and the lame were cured.

Therefore, being led by the church, they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles. And they caused great joy among all the brothers.

So may I come to you with joy, through the will of God, and so may I be refreshed with you.

As to the rest, brothers, rejoice, be perfect, be encouraged, have the same mind, have peace. And so the God of peace and love will be with you.

And so, my most beloved and most desired brothers, my joy and my crown: stand firm in this way, in the Lord, most beloved.

For now I rejoice in my passion on your behalf, and I complete in my flesh the things that are lacking in the Passion of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the Church.

For what is our hope, and our joy, and our crown of glory? Is it not you, before our Lord Jesus Christ at his return?

Instead, having previously suffered and been treated shamefully, as you know, at Philippi, we had confidence in our God, so as to speak the Gospel of God to you with much solicitude.

For you are our glory and our joy.

For what thanks would we be able to repay to God because of you, for all the joy with which we rejoice over you before our God?

I was very glad because I discovered some of your sons walking in the truth, just as we received the commandment from the Father.

I was very glad when the brothers arrived, and when they offered testimony to the truth in you, that you are walking in the truth.

I have no greater grace than this, when I hear that my sons are walking in the truth.

Then, to him who has the power to keep you free from sin and to present you, immaculate, with exultation, before the presence of his glory at the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Prayer