46 Bible Verses about emptiness

For this is the word of the Lord who made the heavens; he is God; the maker and designer of the earth; who made it not to be a waste, but as a living-place for man: I am the Lord, and there is no other.

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the sea is covered by the waters.

And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.

Looking at the earth, I saw that it was waste and without form; and to the heavens, that they had no light.

I went out full, and the Lord has sent me back again with nothing; why do you give me the name Naomi, seeing that the Lord has given witness against me, and the Ruler of all has sent sorrow on me?

But God will not give ear to what is false, or the Ruler of all take note of it;

And Job's mouth is open wide to give out what is of no profit, increasing words without knowledge.

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.

You say you have a design and strength for war, but these are only words: now to whom are you looking for support, that you have gone against my authority?

You say you have a design, and strength for war, but these are only words. Now to whom are you looking for support, that you have gone against my authority?

No one puts forward an upright cause, or gives a true decision: their hope is in deceit, and their words are false; they are with child with sin, and give birth to evil.

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.

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;

Why do you give your money for what is not bread, and the fruit of your work for what will not give you pleasure? Give ear to me, so that your food may be good, and you may have the best in full measure.

If the Lord is not helping the builders, then the building of a house is to no purpose: if the Lord does not keep the town, the watchman keeps his watch for nothing.

For this cause the Lord of armies has said, Give thought to your ways. Much has been planted, but little got in; you take food, but have not enough; you take drink, but are not full; you are clothed, but no one is warm; and he who gets payment for his work, gets it to put it into a bag full of holes.

That the pride of the sinner is short, and the joy of the evil-doer but for a minute?

The lover of pleasure will be a poor man: the lover of wine and oil will not get wealth.

And he said to them, Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has.

But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all evil: and some whose hearts were fixed on it have been turned away from the faith, and been wounded with unnumbered sorrows.

And he said, This I will do: I will take down my store-houses and make greater ones, and there I will put all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy. But God said to him, You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together?

So is the end of all who do not keep God in mind; and the hope of the evil-doer comes to nothing: Whose support is cut off, and whose hope is no stronger than a spider's thread. He is looking to his family for support, but it is not there; he puts his hope in it, but it comes to nothing.

Let him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get deceit as his reward.

For he sees that wise men come to their end, and foolish persons of low behaviour come to destruction together, letting their wealth go to others.

Wealth is of no profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness keeps a man safe from death.

For we came into the world with nothing, and we are not able to take anything out;

Your false gods will not keep you safe in answer to your cry; but the wind will take them, they will be gone like a breath: but he who puts his hope in me will take the land, and will have my holy mountain as his heritage.

Go, send up your cry for help to the gods of your selection; let them be your saviours in the time of your trouble.

And the rest of it he makes into a god, even his pictured image: he goes down on his face before it, giving worship to it, and making prayer to it, saying, Be my saviour; for you are my god. They have no knowledge or wisdom; for he has put a veil over their eyes, so that they may not see; and on their hearts, so that they may not give attention.

Come together, even come near, you nations who are still living: they have no knowledge who take up their image of wood, and make prayer to a god in whom is no salvation.

They put him on their backs, and take him up, and put him in his fixed place, from which he may not be moved; if a man gives a cry for help to him, he is unable to give an answer, or get him out of his trouble.

Then the towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go crying for help to the gods to whom they have been burning perfumes: but they will give them no salvation in the time of their trouble.

Good people, why are you doing these things? We are men with the same feelings as you, and we give you the good news so that you may be turned away from these foolish things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things in them:

So I have made a start with your punishment; I have made you waste because of your sins. You will have food, but not enough; your shame will be ever with you: you will get your goods moved, but you will not take them away safely; and what you do take away I will give to the sword.

But if you do not give ear to me, and do not keep all these my laws; And if you go against my rules and if you have hate in your souls for my decisions and you do not do all my orders, but go against my agreement; This will I do to you: I will put fear in your hearts, even wasting disease and burning pain, drying up the eyes and making the soul feeble, and you will get no profit from your seed, for your haters will take it for food.

For all this they went on sinning even more, and had no faith in his great wonders. So their days were wasted like a breath, and their years in trouble.

They will have food, but they will not be full; they will be false to me, but they will not be increased, because they no longer give thought to the Lord.

This is what the Lord of armies has said: Give thought to your ways. Go up to the hills and get wood and put up the house; and I will take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. You were looking for much, and it came to little; and when you got it into your house, I took it away with a breath. Why? says the Lord of armies. Because of my house which is a waste, while every man takes care of the house which is his.

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,

I am the Lord your God, who took you up from the land of Egypt: let your mouth be open wide, so that I may give you food.

From his full measure we have all been given grace on grace.

The thief comes only to take the sheep and to put them to death: he comes for their destruction: I have come so that they may have life and have it in greater measure.

Till we all come to the harmony of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to full growth, to the full measure of Christ:

And you are complete in him, who is the head of all rule and authority:

But he made himself as nothing, taking the form of a servant, being made like men;

For you see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how though he had wealth, he became poor on your account, so that through his need you might have wealth.