Fifteen verses on joy and happiness, from joy that follows tears to gladness over bread and wine.
In the World English Bible the word happy appears in only six verses of the psalms, and two of them are about repaying Babylon. Joy and gladness are far more common. The psalms do not treat joy as the absence of trouble. Several of the verses below come straight after weeping, mourning or affliction, and some ask for joy back after it has gone. Others find it in plain things: a harvest, bread, a day.
The picks are grouped: psalms of happiness, joy after sorrow, joy in God's presence, and everyday gladness. Each shows the World English Bible text with a short note. Tick the verses you want and print them as one sheet.
Verses that use the word happy, or its close partner blessed, for a life that is going well.
Happy are the people who are in such a situation.Happy are the people whose God is the LORD.
Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.
Happy is said twice. The first refers to the full barns and flocks just described, and the second names God as the reason: happy are the people whose God is the LORD.
Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
Happiness here is having the God of Jacob for help and hope in the LORD. The psalm has just warned against putting trust in princes.
For you will eat the labor of your hands.You will be happy, and it will be well with you.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
A plain picture of a good life: you will eat the labor of your hands, you will be happy, and it will be well with you.
Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,whose sin is covered.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven. The happiness named here comes from being forgiven, not from anything gained.
Joy that arrives after tears. These verses keep the sorrow in view.
For his anger is but for a moment.His favor is for a lifetime.Weeping may stay for the night,but joy comes in the morning.
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. The verse gives the night its due and still expects morning.
Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. The verse ties the tears to the sowing and the joy to the harvest.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,for as many years as we have seen evil.
Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us. A request for joy measured against the length of the hard years.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation.Uphold me with a willing spirit.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation. The heading places this psalm after Nathan came to David about Bathsheba, so this is joy asked back after failure.
Joy found in being near God rather than in circumstances.
You will show me the path of life.In your presence is fullness of joy.In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
In your presence is fullness of joy. The verse places joy in presence, and pleasures at God's right hand, forever more.
Then I will go to the altar of God,to God, my exceeding joy.I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
God, my exceeding joy. Two verses earlier the psalm asks why I go mourning. Here it pictures going to the altar with a harp.
Bring joy to the soul of your servant,for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.
Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
A simple request: bring joy to the soul of your servant. The reason given is for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.
Joy in ordinary things: a meal, a day, an invitation.
You have put gladness in my heart,more than when their grain and their new wine are increased.
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
Gladness in the heart is measured against the joy of a good harvest, and it comes out ahead: more than when their grain and their new wine are increased.
wine that makes the heart of man glad,oil to make his face to shine,and bread that strengthens man’s heart.
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
Wine that makes the heart glad, oil for the face, bread that strengthens the heart. The verse before says God makes plants grow so food comes out of the earth, and these are the ordinary gifts that follow.
This is the day that the LORD has made.We will rejoice and be glad in it!
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
The joy is tied to a day the LORD has made, and the verse decides in advance: we will rejoice and be glad in it.
I was glad when they said to me,“Let’s go to the LORD’s house!”
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the LORD's house. Gladness at an invitation, in a Song of Ascents the heading attributes to David.
In the World English Bible the word happy appears in six verses of the psalms: 127:5, 128:2, 137:8, 137:9, 144:15 and 146:5. The two in Psalm 137 are about repaying Babylon, not a happiness anyone is searching for. The more common word is blessed, which appears in over forty verses. It opens Psalm 1 and Psalm 32, where it describes the person who stays out of the counsel of the wicked and the person who is forgiven.
Psalm 144:15 and Psalm 146:5 both begin with the word happy. Psalm 128 describes a happy life in plain terms: you will eat the labor of your hands, and it will be well with you.
Psalm 30:5: weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 16:11, in your presence is fullness of joy, and Psalm 126:5, those who sow in tears will reap in joy, are two of the clearest. Psalm 51:12 asks for joy to be restored.
Psalm 51:12 asks restore to me the joy of your salvation, and Psalm 90:15 asks for gladness for as many days as the affliction lasted.
Both. Blessed is far more common, as in Psalm 1:1 and Psalm 32:1. Happy appears in six verses, including Psalm 144:15 and Psalm 146:5.
Psalms of Praise and WorshipPsalms of Thanksgiving and ThankfulnessPsalms for the MorningPsalms of HopePsalms for a BirthdayPsalms About God's Faithfulness