Bible Verses About Hope
The short answer
Romans 15:13, Romans 5:3-5, Lamentations 3:21-24, Psalm 42:5 and Hebrews 6:19 are the central hope passages. Biblical hope is not optimism about outcomes. Hebrews calls it an anchor, which is a thing you hold in bad weather, and Romans 5 says it grows out of endurance rather than good news.
Hope in Scripture is not a feeling about how things will turn out. It is closer to a fixed point you hold on to while conditions are bad.
Where to begin
Three passages for a season without much visible evidence.
Lamentations 3:21-24
This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
Biblical context
Written in the ruins of Jerusalem after its destruction, surrounded on both sides by lament.
Selah’s reflection
Hope here is produced by deliberately recalling something, not by circumstances improving.
Romans 5:3-5
Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Biblical context
Part of Paul's argument about the effects of being reconciled to God.
Selah’s reflection
The chain starts in trouble. Hope is described as an outcome of endurance rather than a prerequisite for it.
Hebrews 6:19
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil;
Biblical context
Written to a community under pressure and tempted to give up on their faith.
Selah’s reflection
An anchor is only useful in rough water. The image assumes the storm.
Further passages
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.
Biblical context
A blessing at the close of Paul's argument about unity between Jewish and Gentile believers.
Selah’s reflection
Hope is described as something given rather than mustered.
Psalm 42:5
Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
Biblical context
A psalm of longing written by someone far from the temple and taunted by others.
Selah’s reflection
The writer talks to himself. Hope here is a thing he tells his own soul to do, twice, in the same psalm.
Psalm 130:5
I wait for Yahweh. My soul waits. I hope in his word.
Biblical context
A Song of Ascents that begins out of the depths.
Selah’s reflection
Hope and waiting are the same posture here, held over a long night.
A short prayer
God, I do not feel hopeful and I am not going to manufacture it. Be the anchor while I hold on. Remind me of what is true when I cannot see it.
A question to sit with
What is one thing you know to be true about God that does not depend on how this season resolves?
Try Selah
Tell Selah what tonight actually feels like, and it will help you find relevant passages for this moment.
Open the Selah verse finder