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 that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; the same thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man has no advantage over a beast: for all is vanity.

But if a man lives many years, and rejoices in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and like grasping the wind.

And I set my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is like grasping the wind.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had made, and on the labor that I had expended on it: and, behold, all was vanity and like grasping the wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and like grasping the wind.

For God gives to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping up, only that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping of the wind.

Again, I considered all toil, and every skillful work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and grasping after the wind.

There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after him shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping after the wind.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and grasping after the wind.

I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that has not labored in it shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart takes not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he has neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labor; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither says he, For whom do I labor, and deprive my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a heavy travail.

He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance, with increase: this is also vanity.

A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wants nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him not power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

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

And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are just men, unto whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.

For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope,

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

He that tills his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that follows vain persons is void of understanding.

Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for futility shall be his reward.

Since you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers;

And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.