תּוֹחֶ֫לֶת
to.che.let
hope
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Biblical Hebrew תּוֹחֶ֫לֶת (Hope) The Hebrew word תּוֹחֶ֫לֶת (tocheleth) appears six times in the biblical text and carries the basic meaning of "hope." Based on its limited distribution in Scripture, this term represents one of several Hebrew expressions for hope rather than the dominant or most frequently used one. The rarity of its occurrence suggests it may have carried particular nuance or been preferred in specific literary contexts, though the lexicon data provided does not indicate what those contexts or distinctions might be. Without access to the specific passages where tocheleth appears, the analysis must remain bounded by what the definition itself conveys: the word denotes hope as a concept—that is, expectation or confidence regarding future outcomes. The six biblical occurrences provide a modest but meaningful sample, indicating that ancient Hebrew speakers had multiple vocabulary options for expressing hope, and this particular term held enough significance to appear across different biblical traditions and contexts. For those reading biblical texts, encountering תּוֹחֶ֫לֶת signals the theme of human expectation or trust directed toward future circumstances, though determining whether it carries connotations of certainty, longing, or waiting would require examining its usage in actual biblical passages.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
6 total occurrences across the text
Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?
Psalms 39:7Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.
Proverbs 10:28The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish.
Proverbs 11:7When a wicked man dies, hope perishes, and expectation of power comes to nothing.
Proverbs 13:12Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.
Lamentations 3:18I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.”