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VERSES ABOUT JOY
Think about it: the joy of the Lord doesn't just fill you with strength, it brings us all together. It's a joy that's not meant to be kept to yourself; it needs to be shared. Just like the Israelites were instructed to celebrate and share what they had with each other, you can spread the joy of the Lord with everyone you know.
This joy challenges you to love your neighbor and share the Gospel. When your heart is joyful in God, you are strong and empowered to spread that joy throughout your community. It's a lasting joy, something no one can take away.
Psalm 98:4-6 says, "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the Lord, the King." You can find so many verses like this that talk about the joy of our God.
I will make you the ancestor of a great nation and I will bless you. I will make sure you have a great reputation and that you are a blessing to others.
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: When I bring them back home from exile, they will say again in the land of Judah and in its towns: “May the Lord bless you, holy mountain of Jerusalem, home of what is good and right.
At that time Israel will be the third part of this alliance, joining with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing to the whole of the earth.
He will love you and bless you and give you many descendants. He will bless your children and the crops your land produces—your grain, new wine, and olive oil, the calves of your cattle herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that he promised your forefathers to give you.
Then Aaron held up his hands towards the people and blessed them. After that he came down from the altar, having completed the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering.
Stay here in this country. I will be with you and I will bless you, because I'm going to give you and your descendants all these lands. I will keep the solemn promise that I swore to Abraham your father.
So Israel blessed them that day and said: “In the future the people of Israel will use your names to give a blessing, saying, ‘May God bless you like he did Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In saying this he placed Ephraim before Manasseh.
I will bless those who bless you; I will curse those who curse you. Everyone on earth will be blessed through you.”
Their descendants will be acknowledged among the nations, and their children among the peoples. Everyone who sees them will agree that they are people that the Lord has blessed.
The God of your father will help you and the Almighty will bless you with blessings from the heavens above, with blessings from the depths below, with blessings for many children.
I'm telling you today to love the Lord your God, to follow his ways, and to keep his commandments, rules, and regulations, so you can live and grow in number, and so the Lord your God may bless you in the country that you are entering and will own.
“Comfort, yes comfort my people!” says your God.
Look! The Lord God is coming with power! He will rule with a firm hand. Look! He's bringing his reward with him, coming to give his gift.
He looks after his flock like a shepherd. He picks up the lambs in his arms and holds them close to his chest. He leads those that are nursing young.
Who has measured the waters he holds in the palm of his hand? Who has marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has worked out the amount of dust of the earth? Who has weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?
Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or taught him what to do as his counselor?
Who did the Lord go to for advice to help him understand? Who taught him right from wrong? Who gave him knowledge and showed him the way of wisdom?
It's obvious that the nations are just a drop in a bucket. They're like dust on a set of scales. He can pick up islands as if they weigh next to nothing.
All the wood in Lebanon for a fire and all its animals as a sacrifice wouldn't be enough to provide a burnt offering.
To him all the nations are like nothing. He counts them as less than nothing—like they don't exist.
Who do you think is like God? What image do you think he looks like?
Is he a metal idol that a craftsman casts in a mold, and then a goldsmith overlays it with gold and makes silver chains for it?
“Speak lovingly to the people of Jerusalem, telling them that their hard times are over, that their sins have been forgiven, and that the Lord has paid them twice over for their sins.”
From the time he put Joseph in charge and trusted him with all he had, the Lord blessed Potiphar's household because of Joseph. The Lord blessed everything he had, whether in his house or in his fields.
People of Judah and Israel: just as you were considered a curse among the nations, so I will save you and you will become a blessing. Don't be afraid! Be strong!
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, for it is unshakeable and endures forever.
In the same way that the mountains surround Jerusalem, the Lord surrounds his people, now and forever.
The Lord will keep you from having any kind of sickness. He will not let you have any of the terrible diseases you saw in Egypt, but he will let all who hate you suffer from them.
Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel, who is the only one who can do such fantastic things!
Praise his wonderful nature forever! May the whole world be full of his glory! Amen and amen!
You will call nations you don't even know, and nations who don't know you will come running to you. For the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, I made you glorious.
The Lord will defeat the enemies who come to attack you. They will come at you from one direction, but they will scatter seven different ways.
They were happy to do this because they're in their debt. Now that foreigners are sharing their spiritual benefits, they owe it to the Jewish believers to help them in material things.
For this is what the Lord Almighty said: Afterwards the glorious Lord sent me against the nations that plundered you—for those who touch you touch the apple of his eye.
In Scripture it was foreseen that God would make right the foreigners who trusted in him. The good news is revealed to Abraham beforehand with the words, “Through you all the nations will be blessed.”
If I forget Jerusalem, may my right hand forget how to play;
May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you—if I don't consider Jerusalem my greatest joy.
You hardly had anything before I arrived, but now you have so much! The Lord has blessed you through what I've done. When am I going to be able to provide for my own family?”
Though the mountains cease to exist and the hills disappear, yet my trustworthy love for you won't cease to exist and my agreement of peace won't disappear, says the Lord, who shows you kindness.
The Lord keeps us in mind and will be good to us. He will bless Israel, he will bless the descendants of Aaron.
The Lord will bless all those who worship him, whoever they are.
All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your descendants because you did what I told you.”
Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and will spread out west and east, and north and south. Everyone on earth will be blessed by your descendants.
Then the Lord your God will place all these curses upon your enemies instead, on those who hate and persecute you.
In complete contrast, you are a specially-chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Consequently you can reveal the wonderful things he's done, calling you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
However, you shouldn't have poor people among you, for the Lord will really bless you in the country that the Lord your God is giving you to own.
This is what the Lord God says, Watch as I give the signal to the nations, as I raise my flag to let everyone know. They will bring them back, carrying your sons in their arms, and lifting your daughters onto their shoulders.
For the Lord has chosen Zion, wanting to make his home there, saying:
“This will always be my home; this is where I want to live.
When the Lord brought his people back from captivity to Zion, it was as if we were dreaming!
We laughed so much, we sang for joy. The other nations said, “The Lord has done wonderful things for these people.”
tell them that this is what the Lord God says: I'm going to bring the Israelites back from the nations where they've gone. I will gather them from everywhere and take them back to their own country.
I will make them one nation in the country, living in the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule them all. They won't be two nations any longer; never again will they be divided into two kingdoms.
I have placed watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they won't ever be silent, day or night. You who pray to the Lord, don't ever stop and take a rest.
Don't give the Lord a rest either, until he finishes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the most praiseworthy place on earth.
May the people of different nations serve you and bow down to you. May you rule over your relatives, and may they bow down to you. May everyone who curses you be cursed, and may everyone who blesses you be blessed.”
A river flows to bring happiness to those in God's city, the holy place where the Most High lives.
For I will bring you back from among the nations, gathering you from all the different countries, and I will lead you back into your own country.
I will also pour pure water over you, and you will be clean. I will wash you clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.
I will give you a new mind and I will put a new spirit inside you. I will take away your stubborn mind and I will give you a loving mind.
Make the tent where you live bigger; stretch the fabric to enlarge your home. Don't try and save space—extend your tent cords and make your tent pegs stronger.
You're going to be spreading out right and left; your descendants will take over the land of other nations and live in towns that were once abandoned.
The Lord founded the city on his holy mountain.
Jerusalem is the city that the Lord loves more than any other city in Israel.
Many wonderful things are said of you, city of God! Selah.
I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They will look at me whom they pierced, and they will wail in grief over him, mourning as for an only child, weeping bitterly as for a firstborn.
I will bless them everywhere around my hill. I will send rain at the right time. They will be showers of blessing.
The trees in the orchards will produce their fruit; the earth will grow its crops; and my flock will live in safety in their country. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I break their yokes of slavery, and set them free from those who made them slaves.
May the Lord be good to you, you and your children.
May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth.
This is what the Lord God says, Watch as I give the signal to the nations, as I raise my flag to let everyone know. They will bring them back, carrying your sons in their arms, and lifting your daughters onto their shoulders.
Kings will be your childminders; queens will be your nurses. They will bow low before you, and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, and that those who put their trust in me will never be ashamed.
Listen, nations, to what the Lord has to say, and let others know about in faraway countries: The Lord who scattered Israel will gather them together and keep them safe, just like a shepherd looks after his flock.
Stand up, God, and scatter your enemies. Let those who hate him run away from him!
Your people settled there, and because of your kindness, God, you looked after the poor. Selah.
The Lord gives the command, and a great army of women spread the good news.
The kings of the foreign armies are quick to run away, and the women who stayed at home divide the plunder!
Why are you staying at home? There are ornaments in the shape of a dove with wings of silver and feathers of fine gold to be taken.
The Almighty scattered the foreign kings like a snowstorm on Mount Zalmon.
“Mountain of God,” Mount Bashan, with your many high peaks, Mount Bashan,
why do you look enviously, mountain with many peaks, at the mountain God chose as his home, where the Lord will live forever?
God's chariots can't be counted; there are thousands and thousands of them. He comes among them from Sinai into his Temple.
As you ascended to your high throne you led a procession of prisoners. You received gifts from the people, even from those who had rebelled against the home of the Lord God.
May the Lord be blessed, for every day he carries our burdens. God is our salvation. Selah.
Blow them away as if they were smoke; melt them like beeswax in a fire. Let the wicked die in God's presence.
I am honored by nations from the farthest east to the distant west; everywhere people make offerings to me of incense and pure sacrifices. I am honored among the nations, says the Lord Almighty.
In the last days the mountain where the Lord's Temple stands will be recognized as the highest of all mountains, rising above other hills. Many from the other nations will travel to it.
On that day the people will take the idols of silver and gold that they made to worship and throw them away to the rats and the bats.
They will run to cracks in the rocks and gaps on the cliffs to try and hide from the terrifying presence of the Lord, from the glory of his majesty, when he arrives to shake the earth.
Don't bother trusting human beings who only live for a while. How much do they count?
People will come and say, “Let's go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob. There God will teach us his ways and we will follow his directions. God's teachings will spread out from Zion, his word from Jerusalem.”
This is how all Israel will be saved. As Scripture says, “The Savior will come from Zion, and he will turn Jacob away from his opposition to God.
I call on heaven and earth to be my witnesses against you today that I have placed before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life, so you and your descendants will live,
When that happens, and when you and your children come back to the Lord your God, and when you do what he says with all your mind and all your being in accordance with everything I'm telling you today, then the Lord your God will be merciful to you.
so you will love the Lord your God, obey him, and hold onto him. For he is your life, and he will give you long lives in the country that the Lord promised to give your forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Let everyone know of God's power: how his majesty extends over Israel, how his strength is revealed in the heavens.
How awesome is God in his Temple! The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people! Praise God!