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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Thou shalt not idly utter the name of Jehovah thy God; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that idly uttereth his name.
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is no God; They have exasperated me with their vanities; And I will move them to jealousy with that which is not a people; With a foolish nation will I provoke them to anger.
And David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How honourable did the king of Israel make himself to-day, who uncovered himself to-day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the lewd fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!
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.
So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
Ye sons of men, till when is my glory to be put to shame? How long will ye love vanity, will ye seek after a lie? Selah.
He that hath blameless hands and a pure heart; who lifteth not up his soul unto vanity, nor sweareth deceitfully:
Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; quicken me in thy way.
Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Thus saith Jehovah: What injustice have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and become vain?
For my people hath forgotten me: they burn incense to vanity; and they have caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient paths, to walk in by-paths of a way not cast up;
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
who changed the truth of God into falsehood, and honoured and served the creature more than him who had created it, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For while speaking great highflown words of vanity, they allure with the lusts of the flesh, by dissoluteness, those who have just fled those who walk 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 belly prepareth deceit.
Ye sons of men, till when is my glory to be put to shame? How long will ye love vanity, will ye seek after a lie? Selah.
His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and oppression; under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
They speak falsehood every one with his neighbour: with flattering lip, with a double heart, do they speak.
And if one come to see me, he speaketh falsehood; his heart gathereth wickedness to itself: he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread of my daily need:
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher: all is vanity.
All the nations are as nothing before him; they are esteemed by him less than a cipher, and vanity.
that bringeth the princes to nothing, that maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
Behold, they are all vanity, their works are nought, their molten images are wind and emptiness.
They that form a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things are of no profit; and they are their own witnesses: they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
When thou criest, let them that are gathered by thee deliver thee! But a wind shall carry them all away, a breath shall take them; but he that putteth his trust in me shall inherit the land, and possess my holy mountain.
Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and the unjust speech,
none calleth for justice, none pleadeth in truthfulness. They trust in vanity, and speak falsehood; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Jehovah, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of distress, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and they shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited falsehood and vanity; and in these things there is no profit.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye speak vanity, and have seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah! and Jehovah hath not spoken.
Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams: they comfort in vain. Therefore they have gone away as a flock, they are in distress, because there is no shepherd.
but in vain do they worship me, teaching as teachings commandments of men.
But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their teachings commandments of men.
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
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 again, The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are vain.
But by God's grace I am what I am; and his grace, which was towards me, has not been vain; but I have laboured more abundantly than they all, but not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
but if Christ is not raised, then, indeed, vain also is our preaching, and vain also your faith.
but if Christ is not raised, then, indeed, vain also is our preaching, and vain also your faith.
but if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
but if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
So then, my beloved brethren, be firm, immovable, abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye should no longer walk as the rest of the nations walk in the vanity of their mind,
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye should no longer walk as the rest of the nations walk in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in understanding, estranged from the life of God by reason of the ignorance which is in them, by reason of the hardness of their hearts,
But foolish questions, and genealogies, and strifes, and contentions about the law, shun; for they are unprofitable and vain.
If any one think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this man's religion is vain.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
For while speaking great highflown words of vanity, they allure with the lusts of the flesh, by dissoluteness, those who have just fled those who walk in error, promising them liberty, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a man is subdued, by him is he also brought into slavery.