What Does the Bible Say About Singing?

Psalm 100:1-2 ESV / 97 helpful votes

A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Colossians 3:16 ESV / 87 helpful votes

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

James 5:13 ESV / 68 helpful votes

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Ephesians 5:19 ESV / 67 helpful votes

Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

Psalm 95:1-2 ESV / 54 helpful votes

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

Psalm 150:1-6 ESV / 48 helpful votes

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! ...

Psalm 147:1 ESV / 39 helpful votes

Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

1 Corinthians 14:15 ESV / 31 helpful votes

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

Acts 16:25 ESV / 25 helpful votes

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

Psalm 13:6 ESV / 25 helpful votes

I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 95:1 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Psalm 71:8 ESV / 24 helpful votes

My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.

Hebrews 2:12 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV / 23 helpful votes

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Hebrews 13:15 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Mark 14:26 ESV / 19 helpful votes

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Romans 15:9 ESV / 18 helpful votes

And in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

Psalm 144:9 ESV / 17 helpful votes

I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,

John 4:23-24 ESV / 16 helpful votes

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Exodus 15:1 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

2 Samuel 6:1-23 ESV / 15 helpful votes

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. ...

Matthew 26:30 ESV / 14 helpful votes

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

John 4:23 ESV / 10 helpful votes

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

Psalm 33:3 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

John 4:24 ESV / 6 helpful votes

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Psalm 137:1-9 ESV / 6 helpful votes

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! ...

Hebrews 10:1-4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Romans 10:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Psalm 68:1-35 ESV / 5 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. ...

Hebrews 12:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Bible Verses about Singing