1 Thessalonians 5:16
“Rejoice evermore.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Context
This begins a rapid series of short commands (verses 16-18) on how believers are to live: rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks as constant practices.
What Does 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Mean?
This is the shortest verse in Paul's letters, and its brevity gives it weight: "Rejoice evermore." The word "evermore" means always, at every season -- not only when life is easy. Paul is not commanding a forced cheerfulness that denies real pain. He is calling for a deep, durable gladness rooted in something that does not change: God's faithfulness and the hope already described in this letter.
Joy here is not the same as happiness, which rises and falls with circumstances. It is a settled posture of the heart that can persist even through grief and hardship, because its source lies outside our shifting situations. Paul issues this as a command, which means joy is not merely a feeling that happens to us but something we can cultivate and choose to return to. Set among instructions about prayer and thanksgiving, rejoicing is part of a whole way of life oriented toward God. The believer who knows what God has promised has reason to rejoice in every season, and Paul urges his readers to make that joy continual.
In the Original Language
"Rejoice" is chairo, to be glad; "evermore" is pantote, meaning always or at all times, stressing continual rather than occasional joy.
Cross References
Application
Cultivate a joy that does not depend on your circumstances by returning again and again to the unchanging faithfulness of God.