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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"You shall not {misuse the name of Yahweh your God}, because Yahweh will not leave unpunished [anyone] who {misuses his name}.
They annoyed me with [what is] not a god; they provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with [those] not a people, with a foolish nation I will provoke them.
When David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. She said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today {by uncovering himself} before the eyes of the maids of his servants, {as the total exposure of a worthless one}."
They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he {made} with their ancestors, and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and [went] after all the nations which [were] all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they [did].
So {I had to inherit} months of worthlessness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
O sons of man, how long will my honor be a disgrace? [How long] will you love vanity? [How long] will you seek lies? Selah
He who is innocent of hands and pure of heart, who does not lift up his soul to falseness, and does not swear deceitfully.
Turn away my eyes from looking at [what is] worthless; revive me in your ways.
Humankind is like a breath, his days like a passing shadow.
Thus says Yahweh: "What injustice did your ancestors find in me that they were far from me, and they went after the vanity, and they became vain?
But my people have forgotten me. They make smoke offerings to the idols, and they caused them to stumble in their ways, [the] ancient ways, to go [into] {bypaths}, not [one that] is built up.
Those who worship vain idols forsake their loyal love.
who exchanged the truth of God with a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed for eternity. Amen.
{For by speaking high-sounding but empty words}, they entice with desires of the flesh [and] with licentiousness those who are scarcely escaping from those who live 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 trouble and bring forth mischief, and their womb prepares deceit."
O sons of man, how long will my honor be a disgrace? [How long] will you love vanity? [How long] will you seek lies? Selah
His mouth is filled with cursing, with deceits and oppression; under his tongue are trouble and evil.
They speak falseness {to each other}. [With] flattering lips, [with] {a double heart} they speak.
And when one comes to see [me], he speaks falsely; his heart gathers disaster for itself. He goes out to the street; he speaks.
Humankind is like a breath, his days like a passing shadow.
whose mouth speaks falsely, and their right hand [is] a false right hand.
Keep falsehood and a {lying word} far from me; do not give me poverty or wealth; provide me [with] food [only for] my need.
"Vanity of vanity!" says the Teacher. "Everything [is] vanity!"
All the nations [are] like nothing before him; they are counted by him as nothing and emptiness.
the one who brings princes to nothing; he makes rulers of [the] earth like nothing.
Look! All of them [are] deception; their works [are] nothing; their images [are] wind and emptiness.
All those who form an idol [are] nothing, and their delightful things do not profit. And their witnesses do not see or know, so they will be ashamed.
When {you cry}, let your collection deliver you, and [the] wind will carry all of them away; a breath will take [them] away. But he who takes refuge in me shall take possession [of] [the] land, and he shall inherit my {holy mountain}."
Then you shall call, and Yahweh himself will answer. You shall cry for help, and he will say, 'Here I [am]!' If you remove from among you [the] yoke, the {finger-pointing} and {evil speech},
There is nobody {who pleads with} justice, and there is nobody who judges with honesty. They rely on nothing and speak vanity. They conceive trouble and beget iniquity;
They [are] vanity, a work of mockery, at the time of their punishment, they will perish.
Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in [the] day of distress, to you [the] nations will come from the ends of [the] earth, and they will say, "Our ancestors have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Because of your speaking falseness and [because] you envisioned a lie, therefore, look! I [am] against you!" {declares} the Lord Yahweh.
And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; [they are] seeing falseness and [are] practicing divination for them [by] lying, saying, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh,' and Yahweh has not spoken.
Look! [Is it] not from Yahweh of hosts that people labor for mere fire, and nations exhaust themselves for mere vanity?
Because the household gods speak deceit, and those who practice divination see a lie, and the dreamers of vanity speak in vain. Therefore [the people] wander like sheep; they are afflicted because there is no shepherd.
and they worship me in vain, teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.'"
And they worship me in vain, teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.'
For the creation has been subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected [it], in hope
For the creation has been subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected [it], in hope
and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain, but I labored even more than all of them, and not I, but the grace of God with me.
But if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching [is] in vain, and your faith [is] in vain.
But if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching [is] in vain, and your faith [is] in vain.
But if Christ has not been raised, your faith [is] empty; you are still in your sins.
But if Christ has not been raised, your faith [is] empty; you are still in your sins.
So then, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, [because you] know that your labor is not [in] vain in the Lord.
This therefore I say and testify in the Lord, [that] you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk: in the futility of their mind,
This therefore I say and testify in the Lord, [that] you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk: in the futility of their mind, being darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance [that] is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,
But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and contentions and quarrels about the law, for they are useless and fruitless.
If anyone thinks he is religious, [although he] does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion [is] worthless.
But do you want to know, O foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
{For by speaking high-sounding but empty words}, they entice with desires of the flesh [and] with licentiousness those who are scarcely escaping from those who live in error, promising them freedom [although they] themselves are slaves of depravity. For to whatever someone succumbs, by this he is also enslaved.