'Futility' in the Bible
So He brought their days to an end in futilityAnd their years in sudden terror.
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility.
So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.
for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity.
What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and a striving after wind.
For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man?
For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot,So is the laughter of the fool;And this too is futility.
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.
So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility.
There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.
Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.
O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,And my refuge in the day of distress,To You the nations will comeFrom the ends of the earth and say,“Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood,Futility and things of no profit.”
Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.They are leading you into futility;They speak a vision of their own imagination,Not from the mouth of the Lord.