Bible Dictionary
DESPAIR
Despair is the condition of being overwhelmed by trouble or seeing no apparent way forward. Paul describes believers as afflicted and perplexed, yet not driven into utter despair.
Definition
Despair is the condition of being at a loss without seeing a way forward, especially under severe trouble. Biblical usage distinguishes being perplexed or pressed from being utterly driven into despair.
Biblical Usage
In 2 Corinthians 4:8 Paul describes believers as perplexed but not unto despair—at a loss, yet not utterly at a loss. Related expressions describe something incurable or a condition regarded as beyond remedy.
Historical Background
The New Testament expression intensifies the idea of being at a loss through a prefix meaning utterly or completely. Related Old Testament words can mean incurable or sick, including descriptions of an incurably wicked heart.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>de-spar': The substantive only in 2Co 4:8, "perplexed, but not in (the Revised Version (British and American) "yet not unto") despair," literally, "being at a loss, but not utterly at a loss." "Unto despair" here conveys the force of the Greek prefix ex ("utterly," "out and out"). Desperate, in Job 6:26; Isa 17:11. In the latter instance, the Hebrew adjective is derived from a verb = "to be sick," and the literally, rendering would be "incurable" (compare Job 34:6, "my wound is incurable"). Desperately in Jer 17:9 the King James Version, where the heart is said to be "desperately (i.e. incurably) wicked" or "sick."</p>