64 Bible Verses about Singing
Most Relevant Verses
Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright [in heart—those with moral integrity and godly character].
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
Sing praises to Him with the harp of ten strings.
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully [on the strings] with a loud and joyful sound.
O sing to the Lord a new song;
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day.
But let all who take refuge and put their trust in You rejoice,
Let them ever sing for joy;
Because You cover and shelter them,
Let those who love Your name be joyful and exult in You.
Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion;
Declare among the peoples His [great and wondrous] deeds.
Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Lift up a song for Him who rides through the desert—
His name is the Lord—be in good spirits before Him.
Sing aloud to God our strength;
Shout for joy to the God of Jacob (Israel).
Raise a song, sound the timbrel,
The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.
O come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord;
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
O sing to the Lord a new song,
For He has done marvelous and wonderful things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
And praise Him in the congregation of His godly ones (believers).
Shout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it!
Shout in triumph, you depths of the earth;
Break forth into jubilant rejoicing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
And He shows His glory in Israel.
Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
And break forth into singing, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people
And will have compassion on His afflicted.
Break forth, shout joyfully together,
You ruins of Jerusalem;
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
And again,
“Praise the Lord all you Gentiles,
And let all the peoples praise Him!”
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness and justice,
And I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
I will rejoice and exult in you;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
Awake, my glory!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the people;
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
But as for me, I will sing of Your mighty strength and power;
Yes, I will sing joyfully of Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For You have been my stronghold
And a refuge in the day of my distress.
To You, O [God] my strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my stronghold [my refuge, my protector, my high tower], the God who shows me [steadfast] lovingkindness.
I will sing of the goodness and lovingkindness of the Lord forever;
With my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.
I will sing of [steadfast] lovingkindness and justice;
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our [gracious and majestic] God;
Praise is becoming and appropriate.
And the ransomed of the Lord will return
And come to Zion with shouts of jubilation,
And everlasting joy will be upon their heads;
They will find joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
The God who avenges me,
And subdues peoples (nations) under me.
He rescues me from my enemies;
Yes, You lift me up above those who rise up against me;
You deliver me from the man of violence.
Therefore will I give thanks and praise You, O Lord, among the nations,
And sing praises to Your name.
I will also praise You with the harp,
Your truth and faithfulness, O my God;
To You I will sing praises with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You,
And my soul, which You have redeemed.
My tongue also will speak of Your righteousness all day long;
For they are ashamed, for they are humiliated who seek my injury.
“Shout for joy, O barren one, she who has not given birth;
Break forth into joyful shouting and rejoice, she who has not gone into labor [with child]!
For the [spiritual] sons of the desolate one will be more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
“For you will go out [from exile] with joy
And be led forth [by the Lord Himself] with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and [the voice] of the living creatures and the elders; and they numbered myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands (innumerable), saying in a loud voice,
“Worthy and deserving is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And I heard every created thing that is in heaven or on earth or under the earth [in Hades, the realm of the dead] or on the sea, and everything that is in them, saying [together],
“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb (Christ), be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” read more.
And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped [Him who lives forever and ever].
And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and wonderful and awe-inspiring are Your works [in judgment],
O Lord God, the Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all];
Righteous and true are Your ways,
O King of the nations!
“Who will not fear [reverently] and glorify Your name, O Lord [giving You honor and praise in worship]?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your righteous acts [Your just decrees and judgments] have been revealed and displayed.”
“The Lord your God is in your midst,
A Warrior who saves.
He will rejoice over you with joy;
He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins],
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who carried the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah, director of the music of the singers. David also wore an ephod (a priestly upper garment) of linen. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres.
and all of the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and relatives, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres were standing at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets in unison when the trumpeters and singers were to make themselves heard with one voice praising and thanking the Lord, and when they raised their voices accompanied by the trumpets and cymbals and [other] instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever,” then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud,
When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in their holy (priestly) attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Praise and give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever.” When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were struck down [in defeat].
Then they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony [a copy of the Mosaic Law] and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “Long live the king!” When Athaliah heard the sound of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the Lord to [see what] the people [were doing]. She looked, and there was the [young] king, standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters were beside him. And all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments were directing the [singing of] praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”
Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel. The entire congregation worshiped, the singers also sang, and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests praised the Lord day after day, singing to the Lord with loud instruments.
The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also in their places in accordance with the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their service, because their kinsmen the Levites prepared for them.
Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places in order to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving, and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres. So the sons of the singers gathered together from the district around Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites, from Beth-gilgal and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem.
Also Jehoiada placed the offices and officers of the house of the Lord under the authority of the Levitical priests, whom David had [previously] assigned over the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing in accordance with the order of David.
For there was a command from the [Persian] king regarding the singers, as to their daily task.
Then David told the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives as the singers, with instruments of music—harps, lyres, and cymbals—to play loudly and to raise sounds of joy [with their voices].
From the almug wood (sandalwood) the king made pillars for the house of the Lord and for the king’s palace, and also lyres and harps for the singers. Such almug wood did not come in [to Israel] again, nor has it been seen to this day.
From the almug timber the king made stairways for the house of the Lord and for the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; none like that was seen before in the land of Judah.
By the rivers of Babylon,
There we [captives] sat down and wept,
When we remembered Zion [the city God imprinted on our hearts].
On the willow trees in the midst of Babylon
We hung our harps.
For there they who took us captive demanded of us a song with words,
And our tormentors [who made a mockery of us demanded] amusement, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”read more.
How can we sing the Lord’s song
In a strange and foreign land?
Now these are the singers, heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites, living in the temple chambers, free from other service because they were on duty day and night.
Chenaniah, leader of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skilled.
Now these are those whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark [of the covenant] rested there. They ministered with singing before the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon had built the Lord’s house (temple) in Jerusalem, performing their service in due order.
All these were under the direction of their father to sing in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order and direction of the king. So their number [who led the remainder of the 4,000], with their relatives who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was 288.
besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and [among them] they had 200 male and female singers.
The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, from Asaph’s sons, who were the singers in regard to the work of the house of God.
For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times, there were leaders of singers, songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving to God.
Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, [offering praise by] singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks to God the Father for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Is anyone among you suffering? He must pray. Is anyone joyful? He is to sing praises [to God].
But about midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
From Thematic Bible
Music » Youthful » Singing » A religious duty
Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Is anyone among you suffering? He must pray. Is anyone joyful? He is to sing praises [to God].
You will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept,
And joy of heart as when one marches [in procession] with a flute,
To go to the [temple on the] mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
Shout for joy to the God of Jacob (Israel).
Music » Youthful » Singing » Examples of
But about midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were struck down [in defeat].
And they sang a new song [of glorious redemption], saying,
Paul » Persecuted » Prison » Singing » Gospel
But when her owners discovered that their hope of profit was gone, they caught hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the forum (marketplace), [where trials are held]. And when they had brought them before the magistrates, they declared, These fellows are Jews and they are throwing our city into great confusion. They encourage the practice of customs which it is unlawful for us Romans to accept or observe! read more.
The crowd [also] joined in the attack upon them, and the rulers tore the clothes off of them and commanded that they be beaten with rods. And when they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. He, having received [so strict a] charge, put them into the inner prison (the dungeon) and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them, Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were unfastened. When the jailer, startled out of his sleep, saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, because he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here! Then [the jailer] called for lights and rushed in, and trembling and terrified he fell down before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out [of the dungeon] and said, Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved? And they answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [ give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved, [and this applies both to] you and your household as well. And they declared the Word of the Lord [the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and bathed [them because of their bloody] wounds, and he was baptized immediately and all [the members of] his [household]. Then he took them up into his house and set food before them; and he leaped much for joy and exulted with all his family that he believed in God [accepting and joyously welcoming what He had made known through Christ].
Singing » ancient Choirs » A militant choir, songs lead to victory
Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male singers and female singers, and the delights and pleasures of men—
The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also in their places in accordance with the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their service, because their kinsmen the Levites prepared for them.
When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in their holy (priestly) attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Praise and give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever.”
She looked, and there was the [young] king, standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters were beside him. And all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments were directing the [singing of] praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”
besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and [among them] they had 200 male and female singers.
Singing » A religious duty
Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Is anyone among you suffering? He must pray. Is anyone joyful? He is to sing praises [to God].
You will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept,
And joy of heart as when one marches [in procession] with a flute,
To go to the [temple on the] mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
Shout for joy to the God of Jacob (Israel).
Singing » Examples of
But about midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were struck down [in defeat].
And they sang a new song [of glorious redemption], saying,
Singing » Songs » In the night
But about midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
Let the godly ones exult in glory;
Let them sing for joy on their beds.
You will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept,
And joy of heart as when one marches [in procession] with a flute,
To go to the [temple on the] mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
I will remember my song in the night;
I will meditate with my heart,
And my spirit searches:
Singing » Songs » Of victory
And they sang a new song before the throne [of God] and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased (ransomed, redeemed) from the earth.
And they
“Great and wonderful and awe-inspiring are Your works [in judgment],
Righteous and true are Your ways,
O King of the
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this
The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea.
Singing » Songs » Idle
Who improvise to the sound of the harp—
Like David they have composed songs for themselves—
“And I shall turn your festivals and feasts into mourning
And all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung);
And I shall cause sackcloth to be put on everyone’s
And baldness on every head [shaved for mourning].
And I shall make that time like a time of mourning for an only son [who has died],
And the end of it shall be like a bitter day.
“Take the noise of your songs away from Me [they are an irritation]!
I shall not even listen to the melody of your harps.
They who sit in the [city’s] gate talk about me and mock me,
And I am the song of the drunkards.
Singing » ancient Choirs » A great chorus choir God gave to heman fourteen sons and three daughters
All of whom were [in the choir] under the direction of their father for song in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. So the number of them [who led the remainder of the 4,000], with their kinsmen who were specially trained in songs for the Lord, all who were talented singers, was 288.
Singing » ancient Choirs » Assisted by an orchestra
Then David told the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives as the singers, with instruments of music—harps, lyres, and cymbals—to play loudly and to raise sounds of joy [with their voices].
Singing » ancient Choirs » Vested choir led by precentor
Singing » ancient Choirs » Regularly employed
Now these are the singers, heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites, living in the temple chambers, free from other service because they were on duty day and night.
Topics on Singing
Angels Singing
Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God (angels) shouted for joy?
Those Singing Praise
Ezra 3:11They sang [responsively], praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness (mercy) toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
