"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.

They have made me jealous with false gods, enraging me with their worthless gods; so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, with a nation slow to learn I will enrage them.

When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to meet him. She said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants' slave girls the way a vulgar fool might do!"

They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord's command.

thus I have been made to inherit months of futility, and nights of sorrow have been appointed to me.

You men, how long will you try to turn my honor into shame? How long will you love what is worthless and search for what is deceptive? (Selah)

The one whose deeds are blameless and whose motives are pure, who does not lie, or make promises with no intention of keeping them.

Turn my eyes away from what is worthless! Revive me with your word!

People are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears.

This is what the Lord says: "What fault could your ancestors have possibly found in me that they strayed so far from me? They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to me.

Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level.

Those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error.

They conceive trouble and bring forth evil; their belly prepares deception."

Surely it is an empty cry -- God does not hear it; the Almighty does not take notice of it.

You men, how long will you try to turn my honor into shame? How long will you love what is worthless and search for what is deceptive? (Selah)

His mouth is full of curses and deceptive, harmful words; his tongue injures and destroys.

People lie to one another; they flatter and deceive.

When someone comes to visit, he pretends to be friendly; he thinks of ways to defame me, and when he leaves he slanders me.

People are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears.

who speak lies, and make false promises.

Remove falsehood and lies far from me; do not give me poverty or riches, feed me with my allotted portion of bread,

"Futile! Futile!" laments the Teacher, "Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!"

"Absolutely futile!" laments the Teacher, "All of these things are futile!"

All the nations are insignificant before him; they are regarded as absolutely nothing.

He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing; he makes the earth's leaders insignificant.

Look, all of them are nothing, their accomplishments are nonexistent; their metal images lack any real substance.

All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

When you cry out for help, let your idols help you! The wind blows them all away, a breeze carries them away. But the one who looks to me for help will inherit the land and will have access to my holy mountain."

Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond; you will cry out, and he will reply, 'Here I am.' You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

No one is concerned about justice; no one sets forth his case truthfully. They depend on false words and tell lies; they conceive of oppression and give birth to sin.

They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

Then I said, "Lord, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, 'Our ancestors had nothing but false gods -- worthless idols that could not help them at all.

"'Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have spoken false words and forecast delusion, look, I am against you, declares the sovereign Lord.

Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says,' when the Lord has not spoken.

Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed: The nations' efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing.

For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.

and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.'

For the creation was subjected to futility -- not willingly but because of God who subjected it -- in hope

For the creation was subjected to futility -- not willingly but because of God who subjected it -- in hope

And again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them -- yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.

So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So I say this, and insist in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

So I say this, and insist in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, quarrels, and fights about the law, because they are useless and empty.

If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless?

For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error. Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.