100 Bible Verses about Worldly Music

1 John 2:15 ESV / 216 helpful votes

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Colossians 3:16 ESV / 189 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.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 163 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ecclesiastes 7:5 ESV / 137 helpful votes

It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.

Ephesians 5:11 ESV / 125 helpful votes

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Ephesians 5:19 ESV / 121 helpful votes

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

John 12:43 ESV / 106 helpful votes

For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Romans 8:8 ESV / 84 helpful votes

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV / 79 helpful votes

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

John 4:24 ESV / 68 helpful votes

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

James 4:4 ESV / 67 helpful votes

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Psalm 150:1-6 ESV / 67 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! ...

John 14:15 ESV / 62 helpful votes

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 61 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 57 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Luke 16:15 ESV / 56 helpful votes

And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Isaiah 5:20 ESV / 51 helpful votes

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 50 helpful votes

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 47 helpful votes

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV / 45 helpful votes

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Galatians 5:24 ESV / 45 helpful votes

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

James 1:27 ESV / 43 helpful votes

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

John 3:3 ESV / 43 helpful votes

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 40 helpful votes

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Amos 5:23 ESV / 39 helpful votes

Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

Revelation 13:1-18 ESV / 33 helpful votes

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. ...

James 1:22 ESV / 32 helpful votes

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Galatians 6:7 ESV / 30 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

James 5:13 ESV / 29 helpful votes

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

John 3:16 ESV / 28 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Titus 2:12 ESV / 27 helpful votes

Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Exodus 15:1-27 ESV / 25 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. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. ...

Isaiah 5:12 ESV / 22 helpful votes

They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands.

Colossians 3:2 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Ephesians 5:18-19 ESV / 19 helpful votes

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

Hebrews 2:12 ESV / 18 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:10 ESV / 18 helpful votes

And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:14 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him,

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 17 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ...

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 16 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Romans 10:9 ESV / 15 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 147:7 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!

Psalm 71:23 ESV / 15 helpful votes

My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.

Titus 2:11-12 ESV / 14 helpful votes

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Philippians 1:21 ESV / 14 helpful votes

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

1 Corinthians 11:1-34 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. ...

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV / 13 helpful votes

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Abstain from every form of evil.

Galatians 1:10 ESV / 13 helpful votes

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Amos 6:5 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music,

Ecclesiastes 3:4 ESV / 13 helpful votes

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Psalm 150:1 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!

Psalm 149:3 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!

Psalm 144:9 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

Psalm 105:2 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!

Esther 5:1-14 ESV / 13 helpful votes

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.” Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. ...

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

1 Corinthians 6:12 ESV / 12 helpful votes

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

Isaiah 1:15 ESV / 12 helpful votes

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

Psalm 95:1-2 ESV / 12 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 68:4 ESV / 12 helpful votes

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!

Psalm 57:7 ESV / 12 helpful votes

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!

Psalm 9:2 ESV / 12 helpful votes

I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Revelation 11:1-19 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. ...

Acts 16:1-40 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. ...

Psalm 101:1 ESV / 11 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music.

Psalm 95:1 ESV / 11 helpful votes

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

Psalm 49:4 ESV / 11 helpful votes

I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

Psalm 40:1-17 ESV / 11 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. ...

1 Samuel 16:14-23 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. And Saul's servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” ...

Exodus 15:1 ESV / 11 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.

James 1:15 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Ephesians 5:19-20 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Galatians 5:16 ESV / 10 helpful votes

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

1 Corinthians 1:17 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Romans 14:10 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;

Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 10 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

John 14:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 16:26 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Ezekiel 28:13 ESV / 10 helpful votes

You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared.

Psalm 98:4 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

Psalm 68:25 ESV / 10 helpful votes

The singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines:

Psalm 40:3 ESV / 10 helpful votes

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 28:7 ESV / 10 helpful votes

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

Nehemiah 12:27 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.

Ezra 3:10 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel.

Ezra 2:65 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 200 male and female singers.

2 Chronicles 35:15 ESV / 10 helpful votes

The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

1 Chronicles 6:31-32 ESV / 10 helpful votes

These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark rested there. They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they performed their service according to their order.

Genesis 1:26 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 9 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

2 Peter 1:21 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 10:26 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But test everything; hold fast what is good.

Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ...

Nehemiah 4:20 ESV / 9 helpful votes

In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

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