75 Bible Verses about Futility

See how short my time is; why have you made all men for no purpose?

My days go quicker than the cloth-worker's thread, and come to an end without hope. O, keep in mind that my life is wind: my eye will never again see good.

As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.

Lord, give me knowledge of my end, and of the measure of my days, so that I may see how feeble I am. You have made my days no longer than a hand's measure; and my years are nothing in your eyes; truly, every man is but a breath. (Selah.)

A voice of one saying, Give a cry! And I said, What is my cry to be? All flesh is grass, and all its strength like the flower of the field. The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass.

When you are not certain what will take place tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist, which is seen for a little time and then is gone.

It is all the same to me; so I say, He puts an end to the sinner and to him who has done no wrong together.

As for man, his days are as grass: his beautiful growth is like the flower of the field. The wind goes over it and it is gone; and its place sees it no longer.

Truly, every man goes on his way like an image; he is troubled for no purpose: he makes a great store of wealth, and has no knowledge of who will get it.

See, is it not the pleasure of the Lord of armies that the peoples are working for the fire and using themselves up for nothing?

For when the sun comes up with its burning heat, the grass gets dry and the grace of its form is gone with the falling flower; so the man of wealth comes to nothing in his ways.

The Lord has knowledge of the thoughts of man, for they are only a breath.

For the wisdom of this world is foolish before God. As it is said in the holy Writings, He who takes the wise in their secret designs: And again, The Lord has knowledge of the reasonings of the wise, that they are nothing.

Because, having the knowledge of God, they did not give glory to God as God, and did not give praise, but their minds were full of foolish things, and their hearts, being without sense, were made dark.

This I say, then, and give witness in the Lord, that you are to go no longer in the way of the Gentiles whose minds are turned to that which has no profit, Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;

We have had word of the pride of Moab, how great it is; how he is lifted up in pride and passion: his high words about himself are false.

We have had word of the pride of Moab, how great it is; how he is lifted up in pride; and his great opinion of himself, and that his heart is lifted up. I have knowledge of his wrath, says the Lord, that it is nothing; his high-sounding words have done nothing.

With his arm he has done acts of power; he has put to flight those who have pride in their hearts. He has put down kings from their seats, lifting up on high the men of low degree.

This is what the Lord has said: Cursed is the man who puts his faith in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart is turned away from the Lord.

Through God we will do great things, for through him our haters will be crushed under our feet.

Put not your faith in rulers, or in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation. Man's breath goes out, he is turned back again to dust; in that day all his purposes come to an end.

Have no more to do with man, whose life is only a breath, for he is of no value.

Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin: Who make a move to go down into Egypt, without authority from me; who are looking to the strength of Pharaoh for help, and whose hope is in the shade of Egypt. And the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and your hope in the shade of Egypt will come to nothing.read more.
For his chiefs are at Zoan, and his representatives have come to Hanes. For they have all come with offerings to a people of no use to them, in whom is no help or profit, but only shame and a bad name.

Cursed are those who go down to Egypt for help, and who put their faith in horses; looking to war-carriages for salvation, because of their numbers; and to horsemen, because they are very strong; but they are not looking to the Holy One of Israel, or turning their hearts to the Lord; Though he is wise, and able to send evil, and his purpose will not be changed; but he will go against the house of the evil-doers, and against those to whom they are looking for help. For the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and when the Lord's hand is stretched out, the helper and he who is helped will come down together.

Our eyes are still wasting away in looking for our false help: we have been watching for a nation unable to give salvation.

And they went against his rules, and the agreement which he made with their fathers, and his laws which he gave them; they gave themselves up to things without sense or value, and became foolish like the nations round them, of whom the Lord had said, Do not as they do.

And do not go from the right way turning to those false gods in which there is no profit and no salvation, for they are false.

I am full of hate for those who go after false gods; but my hope is in the Lord.

These are the words of the Lord: What evil have your fathers seen in me that they have gone far from me, and, walking after what is false, have become false?

But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood.

O Lord, my strength and my strong tower, my safe place in the day of trouble, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and say, The heritage of our fathers is nothing but deceit, even false things in which there is no profit.

The worshippers of false gods have given up their only hope.

And when they say to you, Make request for us to those who have control of spirits, and to those wise in secret arts, who make hollow bird-like sounds; is it not right for a people to make request to their gods, to make request for the living to the dead? Then say to them, Put your faith in the teaching and the witness. ... If they do not say such things. ... For him there is no dawn. ... And he will go through the land in bitter trouble and in need of food; and when he is unable to get food, he will become angry, cursing his king and his God, and his eyes will be turned to heaven on high;read more.
And he will be looking down on the earth, and there will be trouble and dark clouds, black night where there is no seeing.

They have seen visions without substance and made use of secret arts, who say, The Lord has said; and the Lord has not sent them: hoping that the word would have effect. Have you not seen a vision without substance and have you not falsely made use of secret arts, when you say, The Lord has said; though I have said nothing? So this is what the Lord has said: Because your words are without substance and your visions are false, see, I am against you, says the Lord.read more.
And my hand will be against the prophets who see visions without substance and who make false use of secret arts: they will not be in the secret of my people, and they will not be recorded in the list of the children of Israel, and they will not come into the land of Israel; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

For the images have said what is not true, and the readers of signs have seen deceit; they have given accounts of false dreams, they give comfort to no purpose: so they go out of the way like sheep, they are troubled because they have no keeper.

And from the middle of the day they went on with their prayers till the time of the offering; but there was no voice, or any answer, or any who gave attention to them.

And when Moab goes up to the high place, and makes prayer in the house of his god, it will have no effect.

It is like a pillar in a garden of plants, and has no voice: it has to be lifted, for it has no power of walking. Have no fear of it; for it has no power of doing evil and it is not able to do any good.

For before this there was Theudas, who said he was someone important, to whom about four hundred men gave their support: he was put to death, and his band was broken up and came to nothing. After this man, there was Judas of Galilee, at the time of the numbering, and some of the people went after him: he was put to death, and all his supporters were put to flight. And now I say to you, Do nothing to these men, but let them be: for if this teaching or this work is of men, it will come to nothing:

If you were made free, by your death with Christ, from the rules of the world, why do you put yourselves under the authority of orders Which say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands, (Rules which are all to come to an end with their use) after the orders and teaching of men?read more.
These things seem to have a sort of wisdom in self-ordered worship and making little of oneself, and being cruel to the body, not honouring it by giving it its natural use.

Give me no more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings.

You have said, It is no use worshipping God: what profit have we had from keeping his orders, and going in clothing of sorrow before the Lord of armies?

These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men.

And he said, Well did Isaiah say of you, you false ones: These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men.

And the teaching I gave you, my brothers, was such as I was able to give, not to those who have the Spirit, but to those who are still in the flesh, even to children in Christ. I gave you milk and not meat, because you were, then, unable to take it, and even now you are not able; Because you are still in the flesh: for when there is envy and division among you, are you not still walking after the way of the flesh, even as natural men?

If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.

But have nothing to do with foolish questionings, and lists of generations, and fights and arguments about the law; for they are of no profit and foolish.

See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit.

The visions which your prophets have seen for you are false and foolish; they have not made clear to you your sin so that your fate might be changed: but they have seen for you false words, driving you away.

Do not be turned from the right way by foolish words; for because of these things the punishment of God comes on those who do not put themselves under him.

Let no man take your reward from you by consciously making little of himself and giving worship to angels; having his thoughts fixed on the things which he has seen, being foolishly lifted up in his natural mind,

From which some have been turned away, giving themselves to foolish talking;

Put these things before them, giving them orders in the name of the Lord to keep themselves from fighting about words, which is of no profit, only causing error in their hearers.

For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error;

I am the vine, you are the branches: he who is in me at all times as I am in him, gives much fruit, because without me you are able to do nothing.

But on the base a man may put gold, silver, stones of great price, wood, dry grass, cut stems; Every man's work will be made clear in that day, because it will be tested by fire; and the fire itself will make clear the quality of every man's work. If any man's work comes through the test, he will have a reward.read more.
If the fire puts an end to any man's work, it will be his loss: but he will get salvation himself, though as by fire.

And, truly, the good news came to us, even as it did to them; but the hearing of the word did them no good, because they were not united in faith with the true hearers.

And everyone to whom my words come and who does them not, will be like a foolish man who made his house on sand; And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house; and it came down and great was its fall.

When the word of the kingdom comes to anyone, and the sense of it is not clear to him, then the Evil One comes, and quickly takes away that which was put in his heart. He is the seed dropped by the wayside. And that which went on the stones, this is he who, hearing the word, straight away takes it with joy; But having no root in himself, he goes on for a time; and when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, he quickly becomes full of doubts.read more.
And that which was dropped among the thorns, this is he who has the word; and the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives no fruit.

But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas. Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass; For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like.

Do you not see, O foolish man, that faith without works is of no use?

These evil people who say they will not give ear to my words, who go on in the pride of their hearts and have become servants and worshippers of other gods, will become like this band which is of no use for anything.

Why are the nations so violently moved, and why are the thoughts of the people so foolish?

The sinner will see it with grief; he will be wasted away with envy; the desire of the evil-doers will come to nothing.

You have overcome all those who are wandering from your rules; for all their thoughts are false.

The hope of the upright man will give joy, but the waiting of the evil-doer will have its end in sorrow.

At the death of an upright man his hope does not come to an end, but the hope of the evil-doer comes to destruction.

The Lord of armies has said: The wide walls of Babylon will be completely uncovered and her high doorways will be burned with fire; so peoples keep on working for nothing, and the weariness of nations comes to an end in the smoke.

And have no company with the works of the dark, which give no fruit, but make their true quality clear;

As for me, I have made my heart clean to no purpose, washing my hands in righteousness;

For he has said, It is no profit to a man to take delight in God.

And I said, I have undergone weariness for nothing, I have given my strength for no purpose or profit: but still the Lord will take up my cause, and my God will give me my reward.

Being conscious that you have been made free from that foolish way of life which was your heritage from your fathers, not through a payment of things like silver or gold which come to destruction,

If a man makes himself clean from these, he will be a vessel for honour, made holy, ready for the master's use, ready for every good work.