'Meaningless' in the Bible
For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
They rejected the LORD's statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness and became meaningless themselves as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the LORD had warned them not to do.
If you yourselves have all seen this, Why in the world do you continue this meaningless talk?
So I thought to myself, "The fate of the fool will happen even to me! Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively wise?" So I lamented to myself, "The benefits of wisdom are ultimately meaningless!"
Do not bring any more meaningless offerings; I consider your incense detestable! You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations, but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations!
Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there.
So the Lord's word to them will sound like meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there. As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, and be injured, ensnared, and captured.
Who cause a person to be indicted by a word,And ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate,And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.
All the nations are as nothing before Him,They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
"When you are praying, don't say meaningless things like the unbelievers do, because they think they will be heard by being so wordy.
But if it is by grace [God’s unmerited favor], it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace [it would not be a gift but a reward for works].
But the natural [unbelieving] man does not accept the things [the teachings and revelations] of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness [absurd and illogical] to him; and he is incapable of understanding them, because they are spiritually discerned and appreciated, [and he is unqualified to judge spiritual matters].
But as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision [as I had done before I met Christ; and as some accuse me of doing now, as necessary for salvation], why am I still being persecuted [by Jews]? In that case the stumbling block of the cross [to unbelieving Jews] has been abolished.
Do not let anyone deceive you with meaningless words, for it is because of these things that God becomes angry with those who disobey.