77 Bible Verses about Futility

Most Relevant Verses

Psalm 89:47

Remember, as regards me, what life is. Wherefore hast thou created all the children of men to be vanity?

Job 7:6-7

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. Remember thou that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good.

Job 14:1-2

Man, born of woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; and he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.

Psalm 39:4-5

Make me to know, Jehovah, mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: I shall know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, even the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah.

Isaiah 40:6-7

A voice saith, Cry. And he saith, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the comeliness thereof as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, for the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

Job 9:22

It is all one; therefore I said, he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

Psalm 103:15-16

As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth: For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof knoweth it no more.

Psalm 39:6

Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

Habakkuk 2:13

Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?

James 1:11

For the sun has risen with its burning heat, and has withered the grass, and its flower has fallen, and the comeliness of its look has perished: thus the rich also shall wither in his goings.

1 Corinthians 3:19-20

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written, He who takes the wise in their craftiness. And again, The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are vain.

Ephesians 4:17-18

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,

Isaiah 16:6

We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, he is very proud, of his pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath: his pratings are vain.

Jeremiah 48:29-30

We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, he is very proud; his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart. I know his wrath, saith Jehovah; his pratings are vain: they do not as they say.

Luke 1:51-52

He has wrought strength with his arm; he has scattered haughty ones in the thought of their heart. He has put down rulers from thrones, and exalted the lowly.

Psalm 146:3-4

Put not confidence in nobles, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his purposes perish.

Isaiah 30:1-5

Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, who take counsel, but not of me, and who make leagues, but not by my Spirit, that they may heap sin upon sin; who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked of my mouth, to take refuge under the protection of Pharaoh, and trust in the shadow of Egypt! For to you the protection of Pharaoh shall be a shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt a confusion.read more.
For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people that did not profit them, nor were a help or profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

Isaiah 31:1-3

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and depend on horses, and confide in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong; and who look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah! But he also is wise, and he bringeth evil, and recalleth not his words; and he will arise against the house of evildoers, and against the help of workers of iniquity. And the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses flesh, and not spirit; and Jehovah shall stretch forth his hand, and he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is helped shall fall, and they all shall perish together.

Lamentations 4:17

Our eyes still failed for our vain help; in our watching, we have watched for a nation that did not save.

2 Kings 17:15

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.

1 Samuel 12:21

and turn ye not aside; for it would be after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

Psalm 31:6

I have hated them that observe lying vanities; and as for me, I have confided in Jehovah.

Jeremiah 2:5

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?

Jeremiah 10:8

But they are one and all senseless and foolish; the teaching of vanities is a stock.

Jeremiah 16:19

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.

Jonah 2:8

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Isaiah 8:19-22

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto the necromancers and unto the soothsayers, who chirp and who mutter, say, Shall not a people seek unto their God? Will they go for the living unto the dead? To the law and the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, for them there is no daybreak. And they shall pass through it, hard pressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass when they are hungry, they will fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and will gaze upward:read more.
and they will look to the earth; and behold, trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they shall be driven into thick darkness.

Ezekiel 13:6-9

They have seen vanity and lying divination, that say, Jehovah saith! and Jehovah hath not sent them; and they make them to hope that the word will be fulfilled. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and spoken a lying divination, when ye say, Jehovah saith; and I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye speak vanity, and have seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah.read more.
And my hand shall be against the prophets that see vanity and that divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

Zechariah 10:2

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.

1 Kings 18:29

And it came to pass when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering up of the oblation; but there was neither voice, nor any that answered, nor any attention.

Isaiah 16:12

And it shall come to pass, when Moab shall appear, shall weary himself on the high place, and enter into his sanctuary to pray, that he shall not prevail.

Jeremiah 10:5

They are as a palm-column of turned work, and they speak not; they are carried, for they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Acts 5:36-38

for before these days Theudas rose up, alleging himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, were joined; who was slain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed and came to nothing. After him rose Judas the Galilean in the days of the census, and drew away a number of people after him; and he perished, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad. And now I say to you, Withdraw from these men and let them alone, for if this counsel or this work have its origin from men, it will be destroyed;

Colossians 2:20-23

If ye have died with Christ from the elements of the world, why as if alive in the world do ye subject yourselves to ordinances? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, (things which are all for destruction in the using of them:) according to the injunctions and teachings of men,read more.
(which have indeed an appearance of wisdom in voluntary worship, and humility, and harsh treatment of the body, not in a certain honour,) to the satisfaction of the flesh.

Isaiah 1:13

Bring no more vain oblations! Incense is an abomination unto me, new moon and sabbath, the calling of convocations wickedness and the solemn meeting I cannot bear.

Malachi 3:14

Ye say, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we keep his charge, and that we walk mournfully before Jehovah of hosts?

Matthew 15:8-9

This people honour me with the lips, but their heart is far away from me; but in vain do they worship me, teaching as teachings commandments of men.

Mark 7:6-7

But he answering said to them, Well did Esaias prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their teachings commandments of men.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

And I, brethren, have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly; as to babes in Christ. I have given you milk to drink, not meat, for ye have not yet been able, nor indeed are ye yet able; for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there are among you emulation and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk according to man?

Lamentations 2:14

Thy prophets have seen vanity and folly for thee; and they have not revealed thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee burdens of falsehood and causes of expulsion.

2 Peter 2:18

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,

1 Corinthians 3:12-15

Now if any one build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, straw, the work of each shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire shall try the work of each what it is. If the work of any one which he has built upon the foundation shall abide, he shall receive a reward.read more.
If the work of any one shall be consumed, he shall suffer loss, but he shall be saved, but so as through the fire.

Hebrews 4:2

For indeed we have had glad tidings presented to us, even as they also; but the word of the report did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard.

Matthew 7:26-27

And every one who hears these my words and does not do them, he shall be likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand; and the rain came down, and the streams came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and its fall was great.

Matthew 13:19-22

From every one who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and catches away what was sown in his heart: this is he that is sown by the wayside. But he that is sown on the rocky places this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, but has no root in himself, but is for a time only; and when tribulation or persecution happens on account of the word, he is immediately offended.read more.
And he that is sown among the thorns this is he who hears the word, and the anxious care of this life, and the deceit of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

James 1:22-24

But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves. For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror: for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like.

Jeremiah 13:10

This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and go after other gods, to serve them and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle which is good for nothing.

Psalm 2:1

Why are the nations in tumultuous agitation, and why do the peoples meditate a vain thing?

Psalm 112:10

The wicked man shall see it and be vexed; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Psalm 119:118

Thou hast set at nought all them that wander from thy statutes; for their deceit is falsehood.

Jeremiah 51:58

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly laid bare, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; so that the peoples will have laboured in vain, and the nations for the fire: and they shall be weary.

Job 34:9

For he hath said, It profiteth not a man if he delight himself in God.

Isaiah 49:4

And I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain; nevertheless my judgment is with Jehovah, and my work with my God.

1 Peter 1:18

knowing that ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your vain conversation handed down from your fathers,

2 Timothy 2:21

If therefore one shall have purified himself from these, in separating himself from them, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work.

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