No Real Hope Without God. True hope, as spoken of in the Bible, is superior to mere desire, which may have no foundation or prospect of fulfillment. It is also better than mere expectation, because that which is expected is not always desirable. The Bible shows that the people of the world in general have no real, solidly based hope; mankind is going into death, and without knowledge of a provision from a higher source there is no hope in what lies ahead. Solomon expressed the futility of man’s situation without God’s intervention as “the greatest vanity! . . . Everything is vanity.”​—Ec 12:8; 9:2, 3.

The faithful patriarch Job said that there is hope even for a tree to sprout again, but man, when he dies, is gone permanently. But Job then indicated that he was speaking of man on his own without help from God, for Job expressed the desire and hope that God would remember him. (Job 14:7-15) Similarly, the apostle Paul informs Christians that they, having the hope of resurrection, should not “sorrow just as the rest also do who have no hope.” (1Th 4:13) Again, speaking to Gentile Christians, Paul points out to them that before coming to a knowledge of God’s provision through Christ, they were alienated from the nation with which God had in the past been dealing, and as Gentiles they then “had no hope and were without God in the world.”​—Eph 2:12.

The Source of Hope. Jehovah God is the Source of true hope and the One able to fulfill all his promises and the hopes of those trusting in him. It is through his undeserved kindness that he has given mankind “comfort and good hope.” (2Th 2:16) He has been the hope of righteous men in all ages. He was called “the hope of Israel” and “the hope of [Israel’s] forefathers” (Jer 14:8; 17:13; 50:7), and many are the expressions of hope, trust, and confidence in him in the Hebrew Scriptures. In his loving-kindness toward his people, even when they were going into exile for disobedience to him, he said to them: “I myself well know the thoughts that I am thinking toward you, . . . thoughts of peace, and not of calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer 29:11) Jehovah’s promise kept alive the faith and hope of faithful Israelites during the Babylonian exile; it greatly strengthened men such as Ezekiel and Daniel, for Jehovah had said: “There exists a hope for your future, . . . and the sons will certainly return to their own territory.” (Jer 31:17) That hope came to fruition when a faithful Jewish remnant returned in 537 B.C.E. to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple.​—Ezr 1:1-6.