33 Bible Verses about Useless Endeavour

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities! all is vanity.

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher: all is vanity.

For what befalleth the children of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other, and they have all one breath; and man hath no pre-eminence above the beast: for all is vanity.

but if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many: all that cometh is vanity.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

And I applied my heart to the knowledge of wisdom, and to the knowledge of madness and folly: I perceived that this also is a striving after the wind.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that it had cost me to do them; and behold, all was vanity and pursuit of the wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

And I hated life; for the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

For he giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he giveth travail to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good in God's sight. This also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

And I saw all labour, and all success of work, that it is man's jealousy of his neighbour. This also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

There is no end of all the people, of all that stood before them; those however that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after the wind.

Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

I said in my heart, Come now, I will try thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. But behold, this also is vanity.

And I said in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool so will it happen even to me; and why was I then so wise? Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour at which I have laboured, and wherein I have been wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

For there is a man whose labour hath been with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skill, and who leaveth it to a man that hath not laboured therein, to be his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail vexation: even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity.

There is one alone and without a second; also he hath neither son nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour, neither is his eye satisfied with riches, and he saith not, For whom then am I labouring, and depriving my soul of good? This also is vanity and a grievous occupation.

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This also is vanity.

one to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, and he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and a sore evil.

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

And I have also seen the wicked buried and going away; and such as had acted rightly went from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city. This also is vanity.

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; and there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

And I returned and saw vanity under the sun.

for the creature has been made subject to vanity, not of its will, but by reason of him who has subjected the same, in hope

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant which he had made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he had testified unto them; and they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them.

He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth the worthless is void of understanding.

And he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.

So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

Let him not trust in vanity: he is deceived, for vanity shall be his recompense;

knowing that ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your vain conversation handed down from your fathers,

And cast out the useless bondman into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.