For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off and takes away their 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?
- 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?
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 will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
- Job 8:13So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,
- Luke 12:20–21“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared — whose will they be?’
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit.”
- Matt 23:13“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
- Job 13:16This also shall be my salvation, that a godless man shall not come before him.
- Isa 33:14–15The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
- Luke 9:25For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?
- Job 31:3Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
- Mark 8:36–37For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
- Job 15:34For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
- 1 Tim 6:9–10But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.
- Jas 5:1–3Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
- Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
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.