Christian! make sure the ground of your hope (2 Pet. i. 10). Then set out its gladness as becomes an heir of glory. Let not a drooping spirit tell the world the scantiness of your hope. But show that you can live upon its gladness until you enter into its perfect and everlasting fruition. Doubtfulness leaves believers and infidels nearly upon the same level.--_Bridges._ The proverb means literally--"The hope of the righteous (itself) turns to joy." Faith is the beginning of felicity. . . . The expectation or "_assurance_" of the impenitent man, even if he finds it well placed, "_perishes_" as of its very nature. "The world passes away and the desire thereof." The lost may have had all he wished, but his very wishes perish at the last day (1 John ii. 17).--_Miller._ All the hopes of the wicked shall not bring him to heaven; all the fears of the righteous shall not bring him to hell.--_Bunyan._ It would be better for "hope" and "expectation" to change places. Even the expectant waiting of the righteous is joyful at the time, and ends in joy; the eager hope of the wicked comes to nought (comp. Job viii. 13).--_Plumptre._ The wicked cannot choose but fear, and, therefore, Eliphaz says of a wicked man, the sound of fear is in his ears (Job xv. 21). And in Isaiah (xx. 17) they are compared to the troubled sea, which cannot rest. And because where fear is, it is some ease to think, if not to hope, that the evil feared may not fall upon them; this ease is taken away, for the fear _shall come_. Come it shall, as it were of itself without sending for, because it is most due unto them. An instance of this is given in those who lived at the time of building of the Tower of Babel, and who saying "Let us build it lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth," it followeth soon after, "and the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth." On the other side, the righteous having tasted of goodness cannot choose but desire it; and because where desire is, it is some trouble to think, if not to doubt, that the good desired may not be accomplished, this trouble is taken away, for _He_ shall give who can give whatsoever Himself will, whatsoever they can desire.--_Jermin._