'Gladness' in the Bible

Why did you run away secretly and deceive me and not tell me, so that [otherwise] I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with [music on the] tambourine and lyre?

Also King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to exclaim praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they exclaimed praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.

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.

For [at this time] the Jews had light [a dawn of new hope] and gladness and joy and honor.

In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s command and his decree arrived, the Jews celebrated with gladness and joy, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews [and their God] had fallen on them.

This was done on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth of the same month, and on the fifteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural [unwalled] towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a holiday for rejoicing and feasting and sending choice portions of food to one another.

because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and as the month which was turned for them from grief to joy and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending choice portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

You have turned my mourning into dancing for me;You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

“O look away from me, that I may smile and again know joyBefore I depart and am no more.”

You have loved righteousness (virtue, morality, justice) and hated wickedness;Therefore God, your God, has anointed YouAbove Your companions with the oil of jubilation.

With gladness and rejoicing will they be led;They will enter into the King’s palace.

Make me hear joy and gladness and be satisfied;Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

Serve the Lord with gladness and delight;Come before His presence with joyful singing.

He brought out His people with joy,And His chosen ones with a joyful shout,

That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,That I may glory with Your inheritance.

The hope of the righteous [those of honorable character and integrity] is joy,But the expectation of the wicked [those who oppose God and ignore His wisdom] comes to nothing.

Sorrow is better than laughter,For when a face is sad (deep in thought) the heart may be happy [because it is growing in wisdom].

Let your clothes always be white [with purity], and do not let the oil [of gladness] be lacking on your head.

“Go forth, O daughters of Zion,And gaze on King Solomon wearing the crownWith which his mother [Bathsheba] has crowned himOn the day of his wedding,On the day of his gladness of heart.”

Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;In the vineyards there will be no singing or joyful sound;No treader treads out wine in the presses,For I (God) put an end to the joyful shouting.

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.

And the ransomed of the Lord will returnAnd 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.

For the Lord will comfort Zion [in her captivity];He will comfort all her ruins.And He will make her wilderness like Eden,And her desert like the garden of the Lord;Joy and gladness will be found in her,Thanksgiving and the voice of a melody.

So the redeemed of the Lord will returnAnd come with joyful shouting to Zion;Everlasting joy will be on their heads.They will obtain gladness and joy,And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Then I will cause the voices of joy and gladness, and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride to vanish from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem; for the land will become a ruin—a wasteland.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and the shout of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones [grinding meal] and the light of the lamp [to light the night].

For thus says the Lord,“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,And shout for the first and foremost of the nations [the chosen people, Israel];Proclaim, give praise and say,‘O Lord save Your people,The remnant of Israel!’

the [sound of the] voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the [song-filled] voice of those who say,“Give praise and thanks to the Lord of hosts,For the Lord is good;For His [steadfast] lovingkindness (mercy) endures forever”;and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.

“So joy and gladness are taken awayFrom the fruitful field and from the land of Moab.And I have made the wine cease from the wine presses;No one treads the grapes with shouting.Their shouting is not joyful shouting [but is instead, a battle cry].

Has not the food been cut off before our eyes,Joy and gladness from the house of our God?

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth [month to mourn the breaching of Jerusalem’s walls], the fast of the fifth [month to mourn the temple’s destruction], the fast of the seventh [month to mourn Gedaliah’s assassination], and the fast of the tenth [month to mourn the siege of Jerusalem] will become times of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so [to bring this about] love truth and peace.’

I have told you these things so that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy may be made full and complete and overflowing.

So for now you are in grief; but I will see you again, and [then] your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away from you your [great] joy.

Until now you have not asked [the Father] for anything in My name; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy may be full and complete.

But now I am coming to You; and I say these things [while I am still] in the world so that they may experience My joy made full and complete and perfect within them [filling their hearts with My delight].

Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts,

But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

For what [adequate] thanks can we offer to God for you in return for all the joy and delight we have before our God on your account?

“You have loved righteousness [integrity, virtue, uprightness in purpose] and have hated lawlessness [injustice, sin].Therefore God, Your God, Has anointed YouWith the oil of gladness above Your companions.”

Obey your [spiritual] leaders and submit to them [recognizing their authority over you], for they are keeping watch over your souls and continually guarding your spiritual welfare as those who will give an account [of their stewardship of you]. Let them do this with joy and not with grief and groans, for this would be of no benefit to you.