'Vain' in the Bible
"You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
and your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won't yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.
"You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain: for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan to possess it."
They gave him seventy [pieces] of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him.
Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and lived in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.
Don't turn aside; for [then you would go] after vain things which can't profit nor deliver, for they are vain.
Now David had said, "Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.
Then David returned to bless his household. Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, "How glorious the king of Israel was today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"
They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and [went] after the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them.
You say (but they are but vain words), 'There is counsel and strength for war.' Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
"Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?
Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?
Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?
She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,
Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won't one be cast down even at the sight of him?
Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power.
"Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather.
Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain.
Don't trust in oppression. Don't become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don't set your heart on them.
Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence,
Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain.
You reject all those who stray from your statutes, for their deceit is in vain.
Unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, eating the bread of toil; for he gives sleep to his loved ones.
For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.
For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.
For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies.
For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still.
I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don't see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn't say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.' I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice [due] to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God."
You were wearied with the length of your way; yet you didn't say, 'It is in vain.' You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren't faint.
They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them.
Thus says Yahweh, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
"Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.'
"I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
Truly in vain is [the help that is looked for] from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God.
You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; [your] lovers despise you, they seek your life.
The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Yahweh, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I didn't send them, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, says Yahweh.
Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.
For, behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain.
Our eyes do yet fail [in looking] for our vain help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
They shall know that I am Yahweh: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.
"Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you," says Yahweh of Armies, "neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
You have said, 'It is vain to serve God;' and 'What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?