Bible Strands
Psalms 100:2
Serve the LORD with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses all the earth in a corporate call to worship Yahweh, framed as thanksgiving (v.1) and grounded in the fact that He made them (v.3).
The words — עִבְדוּ ('iv.Du, "serve") is the root of avodah, the term for temple service and slave labor; it is not a light word for "worship." רְנָנָה (r.na.Nah, "cries of joy") names a vocal, audible act, not a private feeling.
The thread — Psalms 95:2 pairs "enter His presence" with "thanksgiving" and "joyful noise in song," nearly mirroring this verse's structure. Philippians 4:4 repeats the joy command in a New Testament context.
Why it lands — The verse issues two imperatives: serve and come. It asks the reader to show up in the body, with voice, directed toward a specific Person — not to cultivate a mood.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Cross-references
- Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
- Psalms 95:2 Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.
- Psalms 71:23 When I sing praise to You my lips will shout for joy, along with my soul, which You have redeemed.
- Deuteronomy 28:47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,
- 2 Chronicles 20:27 Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.
- Acts 2:46 With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,
- Psalms 107:21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.
- Psalms 42:4 These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the festive procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.
- Deuteronomy 12:12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
- Deuteronomy 16:11 and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.