SCRIPTURE BY TOPIC
Biblical hope is not an optimistic feeling — it is a confident, unshakeable anchor grounded in what God has promised and who he has proven himself to be.
Hope is one of the three great virtues of Christian life — Paul lists it alongside faith and love in 1 Corinthians 13:13. But biblical hope is radically different from how the word is commonly used. "I hope it works out" is uncertain. Biblical hope is confident expectation. Hebrews 6:19 calls it "an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast" — fixed not to favorable circumstances but to God's unchanging character.
These 34 Bible and Book of Mormon verses about hope span the psalms of distress, the prophecies of restoration, and the New Testament's vision of eternal life. Browse by theme below, or explore them with study aids in the Clarity Edition inside Covenant Path.
"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."
Written to exiles in Babylon — people with every earthly reason to despair. God declares his intention: not harm, but a future and a hope. Context matters enormously here; this is a promise to a suffering community, not a prosperity guarantee.
"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."
Paul calls God himself "the God of hope" — the ultimate source of hope is not optimism or resilience, but God's own nature. The Holy Spirit is the agent through whom this hope overflows into daily life.
"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil."
The anchor image is profound: anchors hold fast in storms by being fixed to something immovable below the surface. Our hope is anchored not to earthly circumstances but to the very presence of God in the heavenly sanctuary.
"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."
Paul traces a surprising sequence: suffering produces hope. The chain from tribulation to hope is not accidental — it is the process by which God builds in us a tested, proven, unashamed confidence in his love.
"The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him."
Written in the ruins of Jerusalem. Hope is not denying the devastation — it is choosing, in the midst of it, to make God your "portion." One of Scripture's most striking examples of hope under extreme suffering.
"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."
The resurrection is the foundation of Christian hope. Peter calls it a "lively hope" — living, active, and energetic. Easter is not a historical event only; it is the ongoing source of hope for every believer.
"Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD."
Hope and courage are linked here — hope is not passive. It takes courage to keep hoping when circumstances press against you. And the reward of that choice is strength from God himself.
The most powerful hope verses in Scripture were written in the darkest circumstances. These are not platitudes — they are hard-won convictions.
"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."
The psalmist does not suppress the inner turmoil — he names it, then preaches truth to himself. This self-directed command ("hope thou in God") is one of Scripture's most honest models of fighting for hope from within depression.
"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 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."
Jeremiah wrote this in the smoldering ruins of Jerusalem. Hope here is an act of deliberate memory — he chooses to "recall" God's mercies when circumstances offer no visible reason for hope. The famous phrase "great is thy faithfulness" was born in catastrophe, not comfort.
"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength."
God's power is specifically targeted at the depleted. Natural human strength — even youthful vitality — eventually collapses, but those who wait on God receive a strength that is not their own. "Wait" here implies active expectancy, not passive resignation.
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him."
Perhaps the most defiant statement of hope in all of Scripture. Job has lost everything — children, wealth, health — yet declares unconditional trust. This is hope stripped of every earthly incentive, resting on God alone.
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
Paul uses the word "reckon" (logizomai) — a deliberate, rational calculation. He is not minimizing present suffering; he is setting it against the scale of coming glory and concluding that glory outweighs it. This is hope as an act of theological math.
Biblical hope is never groundless. It is always anchored to something God has said or done. These verses tie hope directly to his reliable word.
"I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope."
The psalmist makes waiting and hoping inseparable acts — both are directed toward God's word. Scripture is not merely information; it is the substance in which hope takes root. This is why regular Bible reading is not optional for sustaining hope.
"Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be."
Abraham's hope was not based on visible evidence — it was "against hope." His body was past the age of fathering children, yet he believed the promise God had spoken. Paul holds this up as the model of faith-hope that justifies before God.
"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised.)"
The command to "hold fast" acknowledges that hope requires active effort — it can be loosened by circumstance, disappointment, or time. The motivation to keep holding is not our own willpower but God's faithfulness. His track record is the rope we grip.
"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."
Every promise in Scripture — Old Testament and New — is confirmed and sealed in Christ. "Yea" means yes, "Amen" means it is certain. Hope built on God's promises is not hoping against the odds; it is resting on a word that cannot fail.
"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
Balaam's oracle — spoken to a pagan king — declares the most fundamental truth about why God's promises are trustworthy: he is not human. Human promises fail through weakness, change of mind, or death. God's promises are backed by his unchanging, all-powerful nature.
The New Testament's ultimate ground for hope is the resurrection of Christ and the promise of eternal life. These verses look beyond the present age.
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"
Jesus says this to Martha four days after her brother Lazarus died. He does not offer comfort — he makes a claim about his own identity. "I am the resurrection" means hope is not a what, it is a who. This shifts everything: hope is not an outcome we wait for but a person we trust.
"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
Paul addresses grief directly — grief is not forbidden, but it is transformed by resurrection hope. Those without Christ grieve with no horizon; those in Christ grieve toward a reunion. The difference is not emotion but eschatology: what you believe about what comes next.
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
John's vision of the new creation is the ultimate destination of all biblical hope. Everything that makes this present world unbearable — death, grief, pain — is specifically named and abolished. God does not just comfort the weeping; he personally wipes away every tear.
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
Paul calls the return of Christ "that blessed hope" — using the definite article as if this is the hope toward which all others point. Present hope is sustained by the horizon of a future that is not merely good but glorious.
"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Paul's phrase "Christ in you, the hope of glory" is one of the most compressed theological statements in the New Testament. The indwelling Spirit is the down payment of coming glory — hope is not merely future; it is already residing within every believer.
Let me be direct with you: hope is not a feeling. It is a decision — a trained, disciplined act of the will that you make in the gap between what is and what God has promised.
Look at Job. He lost everything — children, finances, health — in a single day. He did not pretend it wasn't happening. He sat in the ashes and cried out. And then, from those ashes, he said the most radical thing a human being can say: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." That is not resignation. That is defiance against despair. That is hope as a weapon.
Look at Joseph. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, falsely imprisoned, forgotten by those he helped. Thirteen years of setbacks. Not a single visible reason to believe the dream God gave him was real. Yet he never stopped acting like a man of purpose, because somewhere inside he held a thread of hope that God's word could not be broken.
Here is what Romans 8 teaches us: the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is coming. That is not a platitude — it is a rational recalculation. You reckon. You do the math. You weigh present pain against eternal weight of glory and you choose to trust the ledger God has shown you in Jeremiah 29: a future, a hope, an expected end.
Start every morning with one specific promise. Not a feeling. A promise. Let that promise be the ground beneath your feet until the feeling comes — because it will come, to those who wait.
The Book of Mormon adds powerful additional witness to the Bible's teaching on hope. These passages offer unique perspectives found nowhere else in scripture.
"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."
Moroni directly echoes the Hebrews 6:19 anchor metaphor while adding that hope rooted in faith leads to good works and glorifying God. Hope is not passive — it propels action.
"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."
Nephi's phrase "a perfect brightness of hope" is one of the most beautiful images of hope in all scripture — luminous, unshakeable, forward-looking confidence anchored in Christ.
"And now as I said concerning faith — faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."
Alma explicitly links faith and hope as inseparable companions. To have faith is to hope — and that hope is directed toward truth, not mere optimism.
"And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope? And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope."
Mormon traces the logic: faith requires hope, and hope is grounded in the atonement and resurrection of Christ. Faith, hope, and charity form an inseparable triad — each depends on and sustains the others.
Biblical hope is confident expectation based on God's proven character and promises — not wishful thinking. Romans 5:5 says "hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts." Hebrews 6:19 calls hope "an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast." The Bible's hope is forward-looking: rooted in what God has done and sustained by what he has promised.
Jeremiah 29:11 — "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" — is among the most quoted hope verses. Romans 15:13 is also beloved: "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." Both ground hope in God's character, not circumstances.
The word "hope" appears approximately 130 times in the KJV Bible. In the New Testament, hope (Greek: elpis) is one of the three great virtues alongside faith and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). The Old Testament equivalent — often translated "trust" or "confidence" — saturates the Psalms and prophetic writings, making hope one of Scripture's most consistent themes from Genesis to Revelation.
According to Scripture, hope flows from God himself. Romans 15:13 explicitly calls him "the God of hope" and says he fills believers with joy and peace "that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Hope is not self-generated through positive thinking or willpower — it is a gift poured out by the Spirit, grounded in God's proven faithfulness and the promises he has kept throughout history. Lamentations 3:21-23 shows that even in catastrophe, the act of recalling God's mercies reignites hope where circumstances offer none.
Faith and hope are closely related but distinctly different. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" — meaning faith is the present, active assurance of what hope anticipates. Hope is future-oriented (Romans 8:24-25 says "hope that is seen is not hope"), while faith is the present trust that makes action possible now. They are inseparable companions: you cannot sustain one without the other. Moroni 7:42 captures this clearly: "if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope."
The Bible acknowledges depression honestly — Psalms 42 and 88, Lamentations, and the book of Job record raw, unresolved anguish without offering quick fixes. Several practices emerge from Scripture for finding hope in dark seasons: (1) Recall specific past acts of God's faithfulness, as Jeremiah does in Lamentations 3:21-23; (2) Wait actively — "they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31); (3) Pray the psalms of lament aloud, which give language to grief without abandoning God; (4) Seek community — hope was designed to be sustained in covenant relationship, not isolation. Professional mental health support and pastoral care are also genuine expressions of God's provision and should never be dismissed.
Jeremiah 29:11 is the most recognized: "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." The phrase "expected end" is more literally translated "a future and a hope." Other essential future-hope verses include Revelation 21:4 (no more tears, death, or pain), Romans 8:18 (present suffering not comparable to coming glory), 1 Peter 1:3 (a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ), and Colossians 1:27 ("Christ in you, the hope of glory").
The Clarity Edition helps you read hope passages in context — with modern-language rewrites, historical introductions, and cross-references connecting Old Testament promises to New Testament fulfillment.
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