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Job 27:8

WEBKJVBSBESVNKJVNASBNLT
For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Job 27:8 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
  • BSB For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
  • 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 16:26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
  • Job 8:13So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
  • Luke 12:20–21But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
  • Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
  • Matt 23:13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
  • Job 13:16He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
  • Isa 33:14–15The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
  • Luke 9:25For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
  • Job 31:3Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
  • Mark 8:36–37For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
  • Job 15:34For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
  • 1 Tim 6:9–10But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
  • Jas 5:1–3Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
  • Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)
HOPEHYPOCRISY

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 27:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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.

For what is the hopeתִּקְוָהof the hypocriteחָנֵףthough he hath gainedבָּצַעwhen Godאֱלוֹהַּtaketh awayשָׁלָהhis soulנֶפֶשׁ
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