What Does The Bible Say About Dancing

The Bible doesn’t have any prohibitions against dancing. I supposed we could stop there and be done with it, but let’s see what the Bible says about dancing.

Dancing was always mentioned as part of celebration. In Jeremiah God makes reference to the women rejoicing in dance.

Jeremiah 31:4
Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.

Jeremiah 31:13
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

In Samuel the women rejoiced when David returned from battle.

1 Samuel 18:6-7
6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. 7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated

Jesus also makes reference to dancing in the story of the prodigal son. When e son returned there was music and dancing in celebration.

Luke 15:25
Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

If there was no dancing it was because blessings had been taken away, or it was a time of mourning and sorrow. Dancing wasn’t just unto God, it was done to celebrate marriages, festivals, and life.

Lamentations 5:15
The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.

Dancing much like anything else is about what’s in your heart, since sin is in the heart, not the dance. If your heart is filled with lust and sin, and your goal is to be sexual and fornicate, then yes the dancing would be sin. Of course by the same token food can also be a sin if your heart is filled with over indulgence, since gluttony is a sin.