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Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Psalms 100:2 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.
  • BSB Serve the LORD with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.
  • NKJV Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
  • NASB Serve the Lord with jubilation; Come before Him with rejoicing.
  • NLT Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Serve the LORD with gladness and come before Him singing. Worship is to be joyful, not grudging.

Overview

To 'serve' God here means to worship Him, and that worship is marked by gladness and song. Joy is not optional but the proper spirit of those who belong to God. Such glad service flows from grace, finding its deepest motive in the redemption accomplished by Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • Phil 4:4Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
  • Ps 95:2Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
  • Ps 71:23My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.
  • Acts 2:46–47And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
  • 2 Chr 20:27–28Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies.
  • Deut 28:47Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
  • Ps 107:21–22Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
  • Ps 42:4When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
  • Deut 12:12And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
  • Deut 16:11And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
  • Deut 16:14And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
  • 1 Kgs 8:66On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.
  • Ps 63:4–5Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
  • 2 Chr 31:2And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the LORD.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 100:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 100:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.