Bible Strands
Job 27:8
For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses his friends in the midst of his final oath, using the inevitable ruin of the wicked to contrast with his own maintained integrity. He frames the question rhetorically to close the description of the godless man's fate.
The words — The Hebrew tikvat (תִקְוַת) marks the "hope" or expectation of the chanef (חָנֵף), a "godless" or insincere person. The text poses the question with mah (מַה), "what," to state that this expectation vanishes when God removes life, rather than to imply a hidden theological mechanism.
The thread — The perishing of the godless hope appears in Job 8:13 and Job 11:20, while the futility of gaining the world at the cost of the soul parallels Matthew 16:26. These passages track the same trajectory from earthly expectation to final accountability.
Why it lands — The verse demands a reader to acknowledge that no human strategy survives divine removal of life. It requires a clear-eyed placement of one's expectation before the moment of death arrives.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Cross-references
- Matthew 16:26 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Job 8:13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.
- Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”
- Luke 12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
- Job 13:16 Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him.
- Job 15:34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
- Job 20:5 the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- Job 31:3 Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
- Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”
- Matthew 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.