Blake Shelton's "Bible Verses" is a raw look at how faith can sometimes make you feel faulty. In the new song, released on Friday (April 23), the country star takes an honest look at his relationship with God's teachings, over a melody that doesn't try to cover anything up.

An acoustic guitar carries "Bible Verses, "written by Joe Fox, Andrew Peebles and Brett Sheroky, all new songwriters, per an email sent to media members. Despite their relative inexperience, Shelton calls the song "a masterpiece."

"No matter where you are in your faith, there are times you feel like you just don't measure up," the singer explains. Indeed, the song begins: "I ain't ever worn a halo / Don't suppose I ever will / As far as savin' me goes, it's a battle up a hill / But I keep climbin', tryin', fightin'."

"I keep prayin' for the day / That I can open up that Good Book / And Heaven don't look like it's out of reach / When it feels like those Apostles are givin' me the gospel and not the third degree," Shelton sings each chorus, listing some of his sins in the verses but still being gentle on himself. "I just want it to read like Bible verses and not the Bible versus me."

"'Bible Verses' is an honest take on that conflict," Shelton adds, "but, without preaching too much, it's hopeful that everything will all work out in the end."

"Bible Verses" is the 12th and final track on Shelton's forthcoming new album, Body Language. Due out on May 21, the record includes Shelton and fiancee Gwen Stefani's recent No. 1 hit "Happy Anywhere," his current single "Minimum Wage" and a title track that features The Voice alumni the Swon Brothers. All dozen songs are outside cuts; Shelton did not write or co-write any of them.

"We’ve been working on this album on and off for two years now, and I’m very proud of what we have put together. We certainly had some unique challenges with the pandemic, but we also had a lot of fun," Shelton said in a press release when announcing the album. "We explored new sounds while making sure to get in some classic country."

Shelton most recently released a new album in 2017 (Texoma Shore). In recent years, he'd suggested that he was perhaps done releasing full albums, though he did put some new songs on a compilation album, Fully Loaded: God's Country, in 2019.

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