Bible verses about

Bible Verses About Hope

12 verses · ESV & King James Version

The English word “hope” has worn thin. We use it for things we have no real reason to expect — I hope it does not rain, I hope the results are fine. It has come to mean wishing.

The biblical word is doing something different. It means a settled expectation of something that has not arrived yet, grounded in the character of someone who has not yet failed to turn up. Closer to how you would say “I am expecting a baby” than “I hope I win.” The waiting is real; the outcome is not in doubt.

That distinction matters enormously in a season where nothing is improving. Wishful thinking collapses under evidence. This kind of hope does not depend on evidence, which is why it can survive a diagnosis, an empty chair at Christmas, or a prayer that has gone unanswered for eleven years.

The verses below are honest about the waiting. Several were written by people in the middle of the worst thing that ever happened to them.

12 verses for when you need them

  1. 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.

    Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

    For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

    Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

    The most quoted and most misused verse here. It was written to exiles told they would be in Babylon for seventy years. The hope is real, but it is long — and that is the part left off the coffee mug.

  2. 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.

    Romans 15:13 ESV

    Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

    Romans 15:13 KJV

    Notice the order: joy and peace come in believing, and hope follows. Hope is described as something that overflows, not something you manufacture.

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

    Romans 5:3-5 ESV

    And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

    Romans 5:3-5 KJV

    An uncomfortable sequence — suffering to endurance, endurance to character, character to hope. Nobody wants this route. It is the only one described.

  4. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

    Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV

    It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

    Lamentations 3:22-24 KJV

    Written over the ruins of Jerusalem, in a book that spends most of its length grieving. “New every morning” is not a cheerful sentiment here; it is what someone made himself say in the worst year of his life.

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

    Hebrews 6:19 ESV

    Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

    Hebrews 6:19 KJV

    Hope as an anchor. An anchor does not stop the storm or still the boat — it stops you being carried somewhere you cannot come back from.

  6. 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.

    Psalm 42:11 ESV

    Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

    Psalm 42:11 KJV

    The psalmist talks to himself rather than listening to himself. “Why are you cast down?” is a question worth actually asking on a heavy day.

  7. 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.

    Isaiah 40:31 ESV

    But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

    Isaiah 40:31 KJV

    The order is odd and deliberate: mount up, then run, then walk. It ends with walking, because most of life is not soaring — it is continuing.

  8. 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 1:3 ESV

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

    1 Peter 1:3 KJV

    A living hope — hope with a pulse. Not resignation dressed up, but something grounded in an event that already happened.

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

    Psalm 39:7 ESV

    And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

    Psalm 39:7 KJV

    One honest question, one honest answer. On days when you cannot manage a whole prayer, this is a whole prayer.

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

    Titus 2:13 ESV

    Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

    Titus 2:13 KJV

    Christian hope is finally about a person arriving, not about circumstances improving. That is exactly why it survives circumstances not improving.

  11. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

    Proverbs 23:18 ESV

    For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

    Proverbs 23:18 KJV

    Said to people who could not yet see the end. Most hope is exercised in precisely that position.

  12. 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.

    Romans 8:24-25 ESV

    For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

    Romans 8:24-25 KJV

    Paul defines the terms: hope that is seen is not hope. If you are waiting without seeing, you are not failing at hope — you are doing it.

If hope feels beyond you right now, notice how many of these were written by people who were not feeling it either. The psalmist in Psalm 42 is arguing with himself. Lamentations was written over the ruins of a captured city. Paul describes hope as the far end of suffering and endurance — not as a shortcut past them.

None of them treat hope as a mood. They treat it as something you hold onto, out loud, often well before you feel it — and sometimes for a long time before anything changes.

Start with one verse and say it out loud, even if it lands flat. Here, feeling tends to follow practice rather than lead it.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.