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 dost not take up the name of Jehovah thy God for a vain thing, for Jehovah acquitteth not him who taketh up His name for a vain thing.
They have made Me zealous by 'no-god,' They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them zealous by 'no-people,' By a foolish nation I make them angry.
And David turneth back to bless his house, and Michal daughter of Saul goeth out to meet David, and saith, 'How honourable to-day was the king of Israel, who was uncovered to-day before the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain ones is openly uncovered!'
and reject His statutes and His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His testimonies that He testified against them, and go after the vain thing, and become vain, and after the nations that are round about them, of whom Jehovah commanded them not to do like them;
So I have been caused to inherit months of vanity, And nights of misery they numbered to me.
Sons of men! till when is my glory for shame? Ye love a vain thing, ye seek a lie. Selah.
The clean of hands, and pure of heart, Who hath not lifted up to vanity his soul, Nor hath sworn to deceit.
Remove mine eyes from seeing vanity, In Thy way quicken Thou me.
Man to vanity hath been like, His days are as a shadow passing by.
Thus said Jehovah: What -- have your fathers found in Me perversity, That they have gone far off from Me, And go after the vanity, and become vain,
But My people have forgotten Me, to a vain thing they make perfume, And they cause them to stumble in their ways -- paths of old, To walk in paths -- a way not raised up,
Those observing lying vanities their own mercy forsake.
who did change the truth of God into a falsehood, and did honour and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed to the ages. Amen.
for overswellings of vanity speaking, they do entice in desires of the flesh -- lasciviousnesses, those who had truly escaped from those conducting themselves 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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To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart doth prepare deceit.
Surely vanity God doth not hear, And the Mighty doth not behold it.
Sons of men! till when is my glory for shame? Ye love a vain thing, ye seek a lie. Selah.
Of oaths his mouth is full, And deceits, and fraud: Under his tongue is perverseness and iniquity,
Vanity they speak each with his neighbour, Lip of flattery! With heart and heart they speak.
And if he came to see -- vanity he speaketh, His heart gathereth iniquity to itself, He goeth out -- at the street he speaketh.
Man to vanity hath been like, His days are as a shadow passing by.
Because their mouth hath spoken vanity, And their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Vanity and a lying word put far from me, Poverty or wealth give not to me, Cause me to eat the bread of my portion,
Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, Vanity of vanities: the whole is vanity.
Vanity of vanities, said the preacher, the whole is vanity.
All the nations are as nothing before Him, Less than nothing and emptiness, They have been reckoned to Him.
He who is making princes become nothing, Judges of earth as emptiness hath made;
Lo, all of them are vanity, Nought are their works, Wind and emptiness their molten images!'
Framers of a graven image are all of them emptiness, And their desirable things do not profit, And their own witnesses they are, They see not, nor know, that they may be ashamed.
When thou criest, let thy gatherings deliver thee, And all of them carry away doth wind, Take away doth vanity, And whoso is trusting in Me inheriteth the land, And doth possess My holy mountain.
Then thou callest, and Jehovah answereth, Thou criest, and He saith, 'Behold Me.' If thou turn aside from thy midst the yoke, The sending forth of the finger, And the speaking of vanity,
There is none calling in righteousness, And there is none pleading in faithfulness, Trusting on emptiness, and speaking falsehood, Conceiving perverseness, and bearing iniquity.
Vanity are they, work of erring ones, In the time of their inspection they perish.
O Jehovah, my strength, and my fortress, And my refuge in a day of adversity, Unto Thee nations do come from the ends of earth, And say, Only falsehood did our fathers inherit, Vanity, and none among them is profitable.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen a lie, Therefore, lo, I am against you, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.
And its prophets have daubed for them with chalk, Seeing a vain thing, and divining for them a lie, Saying, 'Thus said the Lord Jehovah:' And Jehovah hath not spoken.
Lo, is it not from Jehovah of Hosts And peoples are fatigued for fire, And nations for vanity are weary?
Because the teraphim did speak iniquity, And the diviners have seen a falsehood, And dreams of the vanity they speak, With vanity they give comfort, Therefore they have journeyed as a flock, They are afflicted, for there is no shepherd.
and in vain do they worship Me, teaching teachings -- commands of men.'
and in vain do they worship Me, teaching teachings, commands of men;
for to vanity was the creation made subject -- not of its will, but because of Him who did subject it -- in hope,
for to vanity was the creation made subject -- not of its will, but because of Him who did subject it -- in hope,
and again, 'The Lord doth know the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain.'
and by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace that is towards me came not in vain, but more abundantly than they all did I labour, yet not I, but the grace of God that is with me;
and if Christ hath not risen, then void is our preaching, and void also your faith,
and if Christ hath not risen, then void is our preaching, and void also your faith,
and if Christ hath not risen, vain is your faith, ye are yet in your sins;
and if Christ hath not risen, vain is your faith, ye are yet in your sins;
so that, my brethren beloved, become ye stedfast, unmovable, abounding in the work of the Lord at all times, knowing that your labour is not vain in the Lord.
This, then, I say, and I testify in the Lord; ye are no more to walk, as also the other nations walk, in the vanity of their mind,
This, then, I say, and I testify in the Lord; ye are no more to walk, as also the other nations walk, in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,
and foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about law, stand away from -- for they are unprofitable and vain.
If any one doth think to be religious among you, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, of this one vain is the religion;
And dost thou wish to know, O vain man, that the faith apart from the works is dead?
for overswellings of vanity speaking, they do entice in desires of the flesh -- lasciviousnesses, those who had truly escaped from those conducting themselves in error, liberty to them promising, themselves being servants of the corruption, for by whom any one hath been overcome, to this one also he hath been brought to servitude,