'Vain' in the Bible

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.

I for my part will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it.

Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land will not produce their fruit.

Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it.

Now David had been thinking, "In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn't take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

If I am guilty, why then weary myself in vain?

I concluded, "Surely in vain I have kept my motives pure and maintained a pure lifestyle.

A song of ascents, by Solomon. If the Lord does not build a house, then those who build it work in vain. If the Lord does not guard a city, then the watchman stands guard in vain.

It is vain for you to rise early, come home late, and work so hard for your food. Yes, he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep.

I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. I did not tell Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain!' I am the Lord, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements.

But I thought, "I have worked in vain; I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing." But the Lord will vindicate me; my God will reward me.

They will not work in vain, or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For the Lord will bless their children and their descendants.

(Ayin) Our eyes continually failed us as we looked in vain for help. From our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not rescue us.

"'When she realized that she waited in vain, her hope was lost. She took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.

For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.

and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.'

for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God's servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer.

and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you -- unless you believed in vain.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them -- yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

I went there because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so only in a private meeting with the influential people, to make sure that I was not running -- or had not run -- in vain.

I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain.

by holding on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.