Hope is interesting because while it has a universal meaning, how and when it’s used can vary immensely. There’s those times when things are great and our hope is filled to the brim because of our confidence in what we can see – whether God has made it clear or we just see that. There’s other times when we are stuck in the mire and want desperately to have the hope we just can’t seem to muster. And there’s still other times when we are hopeful even when the world would say otherwise. Maybe we don’t have a job or we are without the funds necessary to provide or survive (images of people in far more difficult countries flash before me). Or maybe there’s just an emotional heaviness we can’t seem to overcome. Hope is alive in all these circumstances. Hope eternal and hope now.
There’s a plethora of passages on hope throughout the Bible. My fave site to do Bible word searches is youversion.com. Developed by lifechurch.tv primarily to put on phones (my first app download in the summer of ’08 when apps first came out), it’s become a tremendous resource and the most downloaded Bible app out there.
You certainly need to pick a translation to use that you will want to study, read as a primary Bible and memorize with. The first Bible I bought when I was 16 was a NIV so most of my memory verses are in that. However, I am an adamant ESV user now. The great thing about youversion is that it has every translation under the sun! The reasons versions are worth noting is that just because a word is in one version, it might not be in another.
Here’s what a search of hope returns with the ESV on youversion (interesting that hope has 197 occurrences in the ESV and only 167 in the King James).
- Psalm 119:116 ESV
Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope! - Romans 8:24 ESV
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? - Romans 8:25 ESV
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. - Psalm 119:81 ESV
My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word. - Psalm 119:114 ESV
You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word. - Psalm 119:166 ESV
I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and I do your commandments. - Galatians 5:5 ESV
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. - Lamentations 3:18 ESV
so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” - Job 17:13 ESV
If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, - Psalm 39:7 ESV
“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. - Proverbs 23:18 ESV
Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. - Psalm 131:3 ESV
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. - Lamentations 3:24 ESV
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” - Titus 1:2 ESV
in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began - Psalm 33:22 ESV
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. - Psalm 62:5 ESV
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. - Psalm 33:18 ESV
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, - 1 Corinthians 15:19 ESV
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. - Psalm 146:5 ESV
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, - Hebrews 10:23 ESV
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. - Ephesians 4:4 ESV
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— - Jeremiah 31:17 ESV
There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country. - Psalm 147:11 ESV
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. - Psalm 78:7 ESV
so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; - Psalm 9:18 ESV
For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. - Psalm 130:7 ESV
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. - Job 13:15 ESV
Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face. - Proverbs 26:12 ESV
Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. - Proverbs 29:20 ESV
Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. - Romans 15:13 ESV
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. - Psalm 43:5 ESV
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. - Acts 24:15 ESV
having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. - Hebrews 6:11 ESV
And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, - Hebrews 6:19 ESV
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, - Isaiah 8:17 ESV
I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. - 2 Corinthians 1:7 ESV
Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. - 1 Peter 1:21 ESV
who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. - 1 Thessalonians 2:19 ESV
For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? - Job 19:10 ESV
He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. - Romans 5:2 ESV
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. - Romans 5:5 ESV
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. - 2 Corinthians 3:12 ESV
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, - Ezekiel 19:5 ESV
When she saw that she waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion. - 2 Corinthians 1:10 ESV
He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. - 1 Peter 1:13 ESV
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. - 1 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV
remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Thessalonians 5:8 ESV
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. - 1 Timothy 5:5 ESV
She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, - Psalm 42:5 ESV
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 - Psalm 65:5 ESV
By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; - Proverbs 24:14 ESV
Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off. - Ecclesiastes 9:4 ESV
But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. - 1 Timothy 1:1 ESV
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, - Acts 17:27 ESV
that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, - Colossians 1:23 ESV
if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. - Colossians 1:27 ESV
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. - Hebrews 6:18 ESV
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. - Ephesians 2:12 ESV
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. - 2 Corinthians 10:15 ESV
We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, - 1 Timothy 4:10 ESV
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. - Jeremiah 14:8 ESV
O you hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? - Philippians 1:20 ESV
as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. - Psalm 42:11 ESV
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. - Romans 5:4 ESV
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, - Ezekiel 37:11 ESV
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ - 1 Peter 1:3 ESV
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, - 1 Peter 3:15 ESV
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, - Jeremiah 14:22 ESV
Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things. - Jeremiah 17:13 ESV
O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water. - Romans 12:12 ESV
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. - am on trial.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. - Ezra 10:2 ESV
And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. - Hebrews 3:6 ESV
but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. - Romans 15:4 ESV
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. - Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
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. - Job 17:15 ESV
where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? - Lamentations 3:21 ESV
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: - Matthew 12:21 ESV
and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” - Job 5:16 ESV
So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. - Psalm 119:49 ESV
Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. - Lamentations 3:29 ESV
let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope; - Job 4:6 ESV
Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? - Job 6:8 ESV
“Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, - Job 6:19 ESV
The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope. - Proverbs 19:18 ESV
Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death. - Psalm 130:5 ESV
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; - Acts 2:26 ESV
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. - 1 Thessalonians 4:13 ESV
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. - Psalm 71:5 ESV
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. - Ruth 1:12 ESV
Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, - Romans 15:12 ESV
And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”
Categorization for later . . .
So about those passages. Let me categorize them.
Confident hope:
Life is winning, I have no hope:
I want hope, but it’s just hard:
Life is overwhelming and yet I have a tremendous amount of hope:
Eternal hope: