77 Bible Verses about Futility

Remember how short my life is.
Have You created everyone for nothing?

My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.
Remember that my life is but a breath.
My eye will never again see anything good.

Man born of woman
is short of days and full of trouble.
He blossoms like a flower, then withers;
he flees like a shadow and does not last.

“Lord, reveal to me the end of my life
and the number of my days.
Let me know how short-lived I am.
You, indeed, have made my days short in length,
and my life span as nothing in Your sight.
Yes, every mortal man is only a vapor.Selah

A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another said, “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.

You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

It is all the same. Therefore I say,
“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”

As for man, his days are like grass—
he blooms like a flower of the field;
when the wind passes over it, it vanishes,
and its place is no longer known.

“Certainly, man walks about like a mere shadow.
Indeed, they frantically rush around in vain,
gathering possessions
without knowing who will get them.

In vain you get up early and stay up late,
working hard to have enough food—
yes, He gives sleep to the one He loves.

Is it not from the Lord of Hosts
that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire
and countries exhaust themselves for nothing?

For the sun rises with its scorching heat and dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will wither away while pursuing his activities.

The Lord knows man’s thoughts;
they are meaningless.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are meaningless.

For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.

Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.

We have heard of Moab’s pride—
how very proud he is—
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.

We have heard of Moab’s pride,
great pride, indeed—
his insolence, arrogance, pride,
and haughty heart.
I know his outburst.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
It is empty.
His boast is empty.

He has done a mighty deed with His arm;
He has scattered the proud
because of the thoughts of their hearts;
He has toppled the mighty from their thrones
and exalted the lowly.

This is what the Lord says:

The man who trusts in mankind,
who makes human flesh his strength
and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed.

Give us aid against the foe,
for human help is worthless.

Give us aid against the foe,
for human help is worthless.

Do not trust in nobles,
in man, who cannot save.
When his breath leaves him,
he returns to the ground;
on that day his plans die.

Put no more trust in man,
who has only the breath in his nostrils.
What is he really worth?

Woe to the rebellious children!
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They carry out a plan, but not Mine;
they make an alliance,
but against My will,
piling sin on top of sin.
They set out to go down to Egypt
without asking My advice,
in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection
and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.
But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,
and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your disgrace.
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For though his princes are at Zoan
and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,
everyone will be ashamed
because of a people who can’t help.
They are of no benefit, they are no help;
they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and who depend on horses!
They trust in the abundance of chariots
and in the large number of horsemen.
They do not look to the Holy One of Israel
and they do not seek the Lord’s help.
But He also is wise and brings disaster.
He does not go back on what He says;
He will rise up against the house of wicked men
and against the allies of evildoers.
Egyptians are men, not God;
their horses are flesh, not spirit.
When the Lord raises His hand to strike,
the helper will stumble
and the one who is helped will fall;
both will perish together.

ע AyinAll the while our eyes were failing
as we looked in vain for assistance;
we watched from our towers
for a nation that refused to help.

They rejected His statutes and His covenant He had made with their ancestors and the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the surrounding nations the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.

Don’t turn away to follow worthless things that can’t profit or deliver you; they are worthless.

I hate those who are devoted to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.

This is what the Lord says:

What fault did your fathers find in Me
that they went so far from Me,
followed worthless idols,
and became worthless themselves?

They are both stupid and foolish,
instructed by worthless idols
made of wood!

Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in a time of distress,
the nations will come to You
from the ends of the earth, and they will say,
“Our fathers inherited only lies,
worthless idols of no benefit at all.”

Those who cling to worthless idols
forsake faithful love,

When they say to you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. read more.
They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.

They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘This is the Lord’s declaration,’ when the Lord did not send them, yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message. Didn’t you see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you proclaimed, ‘This is the Lord’s declaration,’ even though I had not spoken? “Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: I am against you because you have spoken falsely and had lying visions.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. read more.
“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not be present in the fellowship of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, and they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

For the idols speak falsehood,
and the diviners see illusions;
they relate empty dreams
and offer empty comfort.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.

All afternoon they kept on raving until the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no sound; no one answered, no one paid attention.

When Moab appears on the high place,
when he tires himself out
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.

Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,
their idols cannot speak.
They must be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them for they can do no harm—
and they cannot do any good.

Not long ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed, and all his partisans were dispersed and came to nothing. After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. That man also perished, and all his partisans were scattered. And now, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will be overthrown;

If you died with the Messiah to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men. read more.
Although these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.

Stop bringing useless offerings.
Your incense is detestable to Me.
New Moons and Sabbaths,
and the calling of solemn assemblies—
I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.

You have said: “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?

These people honor Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me.
They worship Me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commands of men.”

He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

These people honor Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me.
They worship Me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commands of men.

Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still fleshly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and living like unbelievers?

If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself.

But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

נ NunYour prophets saw visions for you
that were empty and deceptive;
they did not reveal your guilt
and so restore your fortunes.
They saw oracles for you
that were empty and misleading.

Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things.

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his unspiritual mind.

Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.

Remind them of these things, charging them before God not to fight about words; this is in no way profitable and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.

If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. read more.
If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire.

For we also have received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith

But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!”

When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles. read more.
Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all.

Why do the nations rebel
and the peoples plot in vain?

The wicked man will see it and be angry;
he will gnash his teeth in despair.
The desire of the wicked man will come to nothing.

You reject all who stray from Your statutes,
for their deceit is a lie.

The hope of the righteous is joy,
but the expectation of the wicked comes to nothing.

When the wicked man dies,
his expectation comes to nothing,
and hope placed in wealth vanishes.

This is what Yahweh of Hosts says:

Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished,
and her high gates consumed by fire.
The peoples will have labored for nothing;
the nations will exhaust themselves only to feed the fire.

Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Did I purify my heart
and wash my hands in innocence for nothing?

For he has said, “A man gains nothing
when he becomes God’s friend.”

But I myself said: I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;
yet my vindication is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.

For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,

So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.