For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
Parallel translations
- WEB For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
- KJV For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
- NKJV For what is the hope of the hypocrite, Though he may gain much, If God takes away his life?
- NASB “For what is the hope of the godless when he makes an end of life, When God requires his life?
- NLT For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off and takes away their life?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job asks what hope the godless has when God takes his life. It matters because it underscores the hopelessness of those without God at death.
Overview
Job poses the sobering question of what hope remains for the godless man when God cuts off his life. For the one who has lived without God, death brings no comfort or expectation. This stark contrast magnifies the believer's hope in Christ, who is the resurrection and the life for all who trust Him (John 11:25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Matt 16:26What 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 8:13Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.
- Luke 12:20–21But 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 11:20But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”
- Matt 23:13Woe 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.
- Job 13:16Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him.
- Isa 33:14–15The 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?”
- Luke 9:25What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self?
- Job 31:3Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
- Mark 8:36–37What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
- Job 15:34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
- 1 Tim 6:9–10Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
- Jas 5:1–3Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- Job 20:5the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 27:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.