20 Bible Verses About Hope

Psalm 42:11

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

Reflection: The psalm’s heading assigns it to the Sons of Korah, and the same refrain comes earlier at verses 5-6. Before and between the two refrains, the singer says his tears have been his food, while his enemies keep asking, “Where is your God?” (verses 3 and 10). He addresses the command “Hope in God” to his own soul, and the reason he gives is still in the future: “I shall again praise him.”

Lamentations 3:22-23

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Reflection: Four verses earlier the poet says the opposite: “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord” (verse 18). He then calls God’s steadfast love to mind, “and therefore I have hope” (verse 21), and goes on, “The Lord is my portion… therefore I will hope in him” (verse 24). Verse 26 adds, “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Psalm 130:5-6

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”

Reflection: The psalm is headed “A Song of Ascents” and opens “Out of the depths I cry to you.” The psalmist has asked for mercy and said that with God “there is forgiveness” (verse 4); now he waits, with his hope fixed on God’s word, and compares himself twice to watchmen waiting for the morning. Verse 7 turns to the nation: “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.”

Psalm 39:7

“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.”

Reflection: Verses 4 to 6 are a prayer about how short life is: “you have made my days a few handbreadths,” and a man “heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather.” After that, the psalmist asks what there is left to wait for, and his answer is God himself.

Isaiah 40:31

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Reflection: The promise replies to a complaint in verse 27: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.” Isaiah answers that the everlasting God “does not faint or grow weary” and “gives power to the faint” (verses 28-29), while even young men “fall exhausted” (verse 30).

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Reflection: The Lord addresses these words to “all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon” (verse 4). They are told to build houses, plant gardens and seek the welfare of the city, and verse 10 sets the promise “when seventy years are completed for Babylon.” The hope promised includes being gathered and brought back “to the place from which I sent you into exile” (verse 14).

1 Peter 1:3

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Reflection: Peter praises God for a new birth “to a living hope” and ties that hope to one event, the resurrection of Jesus. The next verse names what is hoped for: “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” Verse 5 adds that believers are themselves “being guarded through faith” until that salvation is revealed.

1 Corinthians 15:19-20

“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Reflection: Some in Corinth were saying “there is no resurrection of the dead” (verse 12), and Paul sets out what follows if that were true: Christ has not been raised, faith is futile, sins are unforgiven, and those who have died in Christ have perished (verses 13-18). Verse 20 states the fact the argument turns on and calls the risen Christ “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Hebrews 6:19

“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.”

Reflection: The “this” is “the hope set before us” in verse 18. Hebrews grounds that hope in God’s promise to Abraham, which God confirmed with an oath (verses 13-17); the promise and the oath are “two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie” (verse 18). The anchor reaches “the inner place behind the curtain,” where Jesus has gone “as a forerunner on our behalf” (verse 20).

Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Reflection: Verse 13 says of the people the chapter goes on to name, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.” Verse 16 names what they wanted: “a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

Romans 8:24-25

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Reflection: Paul has just described creation “groaning together in the pains of childbirth” and believers groaning as they wait for “the redemption of our bodies” (verses 22-23). Hope, he says, is directed at what is not yet seen, and so it waits with patience. Verse 18 sets the scale: present sufferings “are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Titus 2:13

“waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,”

Reflection: In verses 11-12 the grace of God trains believers to live “self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,” and verse 13 describes that age as a time of waiting. The “blessed hope” is an event, the appearing of Jesus Christ in glory. Verse 14 adds what he gave himself to do: “to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

1 John 3:2-3

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Reflection: Verse 1 gives the ground for the claim: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.” The appearing in verse 2 picks up 1 John 2:28, where readers are told to “abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”

Reflection: Paul writes about members of the church who have died. He does not forbid grief; he tells the Thessalonians not to grieve “as others do who have no hope.” The hope rests on the resurrection: as Jesus died and rose, “God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” The passage ends with an instruction: “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (verse 18).

Revelation 21:4

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Reflection: In the vision a new heaven and a new earth appear, and a voice from the throne announces that “the dwelling place of God is with man” (verses 1-3). The end of tears, death, mourning, crying and pain comes in the same announcement. The one seated on the throne then says, “Behold, I am making all things new,” and orders the words written down because they “are trustworthy and true” (verse 5).

Romans 5:3-4

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

Reflection: The paragraph opens with what is already true: “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God” (verse 1), and believers “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (verse 2). Paul then adds sufferings as a second cause for rejoicing. Verse 5 says why that hope is safe: it “does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 12:12

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Reflection: The line belongs to a run of short commands in Romans 12:9-13 about life in a congregation: genuine love, brotherly affection, honour and zeal. Hope is paired with patience in tribulation and constant prayer, and the next verse turns to practical care: “Contribute to the needs of the saints.”

Romans 15:13

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Reflection: Paul’s wish for the Roman church closes a passage in which he quotes four Old Testament texts about the Gentiles and God; the last, from Isaiah, says “in him will the Gentiles hope” (verse 12). He calls God “the God of hope” and says hope abounds “by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Verse 4 has already said how hope is fed: “through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures.”

1 Thessalonians 5:8

“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”

Reflection: Paul describes faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet, for “children of the day” who stay awake and sober (verses 5-6). The next verse gives the ground for that hope: “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 3:15

“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”

Reflection: Peter writes to believers who may “suffer for righteousness’ sake” (verse 14) and tells them, “Have no fear of them.” The defence he asks for is of “the hope that is in you,” given to anyone who asks, and verse 16 adds that it comes from people “having a good conscience.”