33 Bible Verses about Useless Endeavour

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity.

Then I said in my heart, "What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?" And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.

Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.

There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

Again, I saw vanity under the sun:

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

They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them.

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.

so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his payment.

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."