46 Bible Verses about emptiness
Most Relevant Verses
For this is what the Lord says—
God is the Creator of the heavens.
He formed the earth and made it.
He established it;
He did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
“I am Yahweh,
and there is no other.
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory,
as the waters cover the sea.
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty.
I looked to the heavens,
and their light was gone.
I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has pronounced judgment on me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries,
and the Almighty does not take note of it—
We have heard of Moab’s pride—
how very proud he is—
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.
I say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?
You think mere words are strategy and strength for war. What are you now relying on so that you have rebelled against me?
No one makes claims justly;
no one pleads honestly.
They trust in empty and worthless words;
they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.
Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things.
For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error.
Why do you spend money on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.
A Solomonic song of ascents.Unless the Lord builds a house,
its builders labor over it in vain;
unless the Lord watches over a city,
the watchman stays alert in vain.
In vain you get up early and stay up late,
working hard to have enough food—
yes, He gives sleep to the one He loves.
Now, the Lord of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways: You have planted much
but harvested little.
You eat
but never have enough to be satisfied.
You drink
but never have enough to become drunk.
You put on clothes
but never have enough to get warm.
The wage earner puts his wages
into a bag with a hole in it.”
the joy of the wicked has been brief
and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?
The one who loves pleasure will become a poor man;
whoever loves wine and oil will not get rich.
He then told them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.”
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’
Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless will perish.
His source of confidence is fragile;
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.
He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
Let him not put trust in worthless things, being led astray,
for what he gets in exchange will prove worthless.
For one can see that wise men die;
foolish and stupid men also pass away.
Then they leave their wealth to others.
When you cry out,
let your collection of idols deliver you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a breath will take them away.
But whoever takes refuge in Me
will inherit the land
and possess My holy mountain.
Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your oppression.”
He makes a god or his idol with the rest of it.
He bows down to it and worships;
He prays to it, “Save me, for you are my god.”
Such people do not comprehend
and cannot understand,
for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see,
and their minds so they cannot understand.
“Come, gather together,
and draw near, you fugitives of the nations.
Those who carry their wooden idols,
and pray to a god who cannot save,
have no knowledge.
They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along;
they set it in its place, and there it stands;
it does not budge from its place.
They cry out to it but it doesn’t answer;
it saves no one from his trouble.
Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.
“Men! Why are you doing these things? We are men also, with the same nature as you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.
“As a result, I have begun to strike you severely,
bringing desolation because of your sins.
You will eat but not be satisfied,
for there will be hunger within you.
What you acquire, you cannot save,
and what you do save,
I will give to the sword.
“But if you do not obey Me and observe all these commands— if you reject My statutes and despise My ordinances, and do not observe all My commands—and break My covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring terror on you—wasting disease and fever that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it.
Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe His wonderful works.
He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden disaster.
They will eat but not be satisfied;
they will be promiscuous but not multiply.
For they have abandoned their devotion to the Lord.
The Lord of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways. Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house. Then I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why?” This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. “Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
I am Yahweh your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.
From Thematic Bible
Emptiness » Emptiness or vanity of the worldly life (ps 3911; 629)
Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts.
I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure;
exalted men, an illusion.
Weighed in the scales, they go up;
together they are less than a vapor.
consuming like a moth what is precious to him;
every man is only a vapor.
“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”