Psalm 118:24 is a call to gladness on purpose. It tells God’s people that each day is a gift from the LORD, so they can choose to rejoice in it rather than wait for circumstances to feel right. The verse is sung by the worshiping community in Psalm 118, a psalm of thanksgiving sung as people gather to celebrate God’s saving help, and it is spoken by the congregation as a shared declaration.
This is the day that the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!
Psalm 118:24 (WEB)
What Psalm 118:24 Means
The verse begins with “This is the day,” which points to a particular, ordinary day, not a dream of some future season. Then it says “that the LORD has made.” The writer is claiming that this day did not arise by chance or fall apart in our hands. It comes from God’s hand, with its hours, its weather, and its surprises all held under his care.
The second half moves from fact to response: “We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Notice that the psalm does not say “we will feel happy about it.” Rejoicing is an act of the will, a decision to name God’s goodness and to lean into it. The verse does not promise that every day will be pleasant or that trouble will be absent. Psalm 118 itself is full of enemies, pressure, and danger. What the verse promises is that God is present and active in the day, and that his people can respond with gladness because of that.
The Context of Psalm 118:24
Psalm 118 belongs to the collection of Psalms, the hymnbook of ancient Israel, and it is widely associated with the festal processions and thanksgiving services at the temple. Its voice is communal, and many scholars see it as a liturgy used when worshipers entered the temple gates. Tradition often connects the psalm with the rebuilding of Israel after exile, and the stone that the builders rejected in verse 22 has been read as a picture of God turning a rejected thing into the cornerstone.
Just before the verse, the psalmist says that the LORD has answered and become salvation (verse 21), and that the stone rejected by builders has become the cornerstone (verse 22). Verse 23 adds that this is the LORD’s doing and is marvelous to us. So verse 24 is the response of people who have just seen God’s surprising faithfulness. The day is glad because the reversal has happened, and the verses that follow ask for further salvation and blessing, which means the rejoicing is rooted in what God has already done and in trust for what he will do.
Key Phrases in Psalm 118:24
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
(WEB)
This passage roots daily hope in God’s mercies that are new each morning. Read alongside Psalm 118:24, it shows that the gladness of a day comes from God’s faithfulness renewed with every sunrise, not from the day’s circumstances alone.
Psalm 118:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
(WEB)
The opening line of the same psalm calls the reader to give thanks because the LORD is good and his love endures forever. It frames the rejoicing of verse 24 as a response to God’s enduring goodness, which is the foundation for every glad day.
A Short Prayer From Psalm 118:24
Lord, you have made this day, and I want to receive it as your gift. Some of it is already crowded with things I cannot control, and I feel the weight of them. Help me to begin here, with thanks, and to notice where you are already at work around me. Give me a glad heart that is rooted in your faithfulness rather than in how smoothly things go. Let my rejoicing be real today, and let it show in how I speak and serve those around me. Amen.
