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So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
Job 8:13 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,
  • BSB Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.
  • NKJV So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,
  • NASB “So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish,
  • NLT The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate.

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

Bildad declares this is the destiny of all who forget God: the hope of the godless perishes. He states the moral he draws from the reed.

Overview

Bildad now names his point plainly: those who forget God share the reed's fate, and the godless person's hope comes to nothing. The principle that hope built apart from God ultimately fails is biblically sound (Proverbs 10:28). The error is Bildad's assumption that Job belongs in this category.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Ps 9:17The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
  • Job 13:16He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
  • 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.
  • Prov 10:28The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
  • Job 15:34For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
  • Ps 50:22Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
  • Prov 12:7The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.
  • Luke 12:1–2In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
  • Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
  • Deut 8:19And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
  • Deut 8:11Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
  • Job 36:13But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.
  • Deut 8:14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
  • Lam 3:18And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
  • Ps 10:4The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
  • Isa 51:13And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
  • Isa 33:14The 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?
  • Job 27:8–10For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
  • Deut 6:12Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
  • Job 18:14His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
  • Matt 24:51And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

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 8:13YouTube · 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 8:13 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.