Bible Verses About Hope: 14 Verses for When It Feels Gone

Bible verses about hope when you feel hopeless

Every verse in this guide is quoted from the World English Bible, with a line about where it comes from. These first three were written by people who weren’t feeling hopeful at the time.

• Lamentations 3:21–23. “This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.” Written after Jerusalem was destroyed. Three verses earlier, the writer says his “expectation from the LORD” has perished.
• Psalm 42:11. “Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.” The writer argues with his own sadness. He says nearly the same words three times across Psalms 42 and 43, so once clearly wasn’t enough.
• Psalm 39:7. “Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.” David, in a psalm about how short life is, with nothing left to lean on but God.

Bible verses about hope when you’re waiting

• Psalm 130:5–6. “I wait for the LORD. My soul waits. I hope in his word. My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” From a psalm that begins “Out of the depths”. Night guards know the sun will come up. They just can’t hurry it.
• Psalm 27:13. “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” David expected to see good in this life, with enemies all around him.
• Romans 8:24–25. “For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees? But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.” Paul, in his chapter on suffering. If you could already see it, you wouldn’t need hope.
• Proverbs 13:12. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.” A proverb that says plainly what waiting does to you.

Bible verses about hope when your plans have fallen apart

• Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.” From a letter to exiles in Babylon.
• Isaiah 43:19. “Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” God’s word to a people who thought their story was over.
• Hosea 2:15. “I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope”, God says of Israel. Achor means trouble, and that valley was the scene of one of Israel’s first failures in the land (Joshua 7).
• Romans 5:5. “hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Paul places hope at the end of a hard road, after suffering, perseverance and proven character.

Bible verses about a hope that lasts

• Hebrews 6:19. “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast”, says a letter to Christians who were tempted to give up. An anchor does its work out of sight.
• 1 Peter 1:3. “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Peter wrote this to Christians living as outsiders. He calls their hope living because Jesus is.
• Romans 15:13. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Paul’s prayer near the end of Romans. It treats hope as something God gives, which means you can ask for it.

What does the Bible say about hope?

In everyday English, hope often means wishing: you’d like it to happen, but who knows. In the Bible it is closer to confident waiting. The Hebrew words translated as hope also mean to wait, which is why Psalm 130 puts “I wait” and “I hope” side by side.

That confidence rests on who God is, whatever things look like. None of these writers promise that life will turn out the way you pictured. They say God hasn’t left, and that the story isn’t finished. Paul looks past this life altogether (Romans 8:18).

What does Jeremiah 29:11 really mean?

Jeremiah 29:11 is often read as a personal promise of a good career or a happy ending. It was first written to a community of exiles, and in Hebrew the word for you is plural. The verse before it sets the timetable: “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you” (Jeremiah 29:10).

Many who first heard it would never see home again, so it can’t mean things will go well soon. It means God had not given up on his people in the worst place they had ever been. Our guide to reading a Bible verse in context walks through it in more detail.

What to do on a day when hope is low

These steps won’t fix the day, but they give you something to do with it.

1. Read Lamentations 3 or Psalm 42 in full. Both tell the truth about how bad things are before they turn.
2. Tell God what hurts, in plain words. You don’t need to sound faithful.
3. Remember one thing God has done, in your life or in the Bible. That is the hinge of Lamentations 3: “This I recall to my mind”.
4. Choose one line, write it down, and say it again when the low comes back.
5. Tell one person how you are really doing. Sometimes other people have to carry your hope for a while.

If hopelessness lasts for weeks, or you’ve lost interest in things you used to care about, talk to a doctor or counselor. Getting help is not a lack of faith. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, contact emergency services now. In the United States, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at any hour.

For the days in between, try our encouraging Bible verses for hard days and our Bible verses about gratitude.

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