Reference: Vanity
American
Does not usually denote, in Scripture, self-conceit or personal pride, 2Pe 2:18, but sometimes emptiness and fruitlessness, Job 7:3; Ps 144:4; Ec 1. It often denotes wickedness, particularly falsehood, De 32:21; Ps 4:2; 24:4; 119:37, and sometimes idols and idol-worship, 2Ki 17:15; Jer 2:5; 18:15; Jon 2:8. Compare Paul's expression, "they turned the truth of God into a lie," Ro 1:25. "In vain," in the second commandment, Ex 20:7, is unnecessarily and irreverently. "Vain men," 2Sa 6:20; 2Ch 13:7, are dissolute and worthless fellows.
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"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
'They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
But when David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, "How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants' maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!"
They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them.
O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah.
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully.
Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways.
Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
Thus says the LORD, "What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty?
'For My people have forgotten Me, They burn incense to worthless gods And they have stumbled from their ways, From the ancient paths, To walk in bypaths, Not on a highway,
"Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness,
For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
Hastings
The root-idea of the word is 'emptiness.' Skeat suggests that the Lat. vanus (perhaps for vac-nus) is allied to vacuus 'empty.' In English literature 'vanity' signifies (1) emptiness, (2) falsity, (3) vainglory. The modern tendency is to confine its use to the last meaning. But 'vanity' in the sense of 'empty conceit' is not found in the English Bible.
1. In the OT.
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"They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity, And their mind prepares deception."
O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah.
His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness.
They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak.
And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; When he goes outside, he tells it.
Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
Whose mouths speak deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion,
"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "all is vanity!"
All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
"Behold, all of them are false; Their works are worthless, Their molten images are wind and emptiness.
Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.
"When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you But the wind will carry all of them up, And a breath will take them away But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land And will possess My holy mountain."
"Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am ' If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly They trust in confusion and speak lies; They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish.
O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility and things of no profit."
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, "Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you," declares the Lord GOD.
"Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' when the LORD has not spoken.
"Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow weary for nothing?
For the teraphim speak iniquity, And the diviners see lying visions And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain Therefore the people wander like sheep, They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.
'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"
'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
and again, "THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS."
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.