Bible Verses About Vanity

In vain do you get up early and put off going to bed, working hard to earn a living; for he provides for his beloved, even when they sleep.

Man is like a puff of wind, his days like a fleeting shadow.

No good comes from ill-gotten wealth, but righteousness rescues from death.

He who farms his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows futilities has no sense.

Wealth gotten by worthless means dwindles away, but he who amasses it by hard work will increase it.

A fortune gained by a lying tongue is vapor dispersed [by] seekers of death.

He who sows injustice reaps trouble, and the rod of his angry outburst will fail.

He who farms his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows futilities will have plenty of poverty.

keep falsehood and futility far from me, and give me neither poverty nor wealth. Yes, provide just the food I need today;

Charm can lie, beauty can vanish, but a woman who fears ADONAI should be praised.

Pointless! Pointless! - says Kohelet -Utterly meaningless! Nothing matters!

I said to myself, "Come now, I will test myself with pleasure and enjoying good things"; but this too was pointless.

I searched my mind for how to gratify my body with wine and, with my mind still guiding me with wisdom, how to pursue foolishness; my object was to find out what was the best thing for people to do during the short time they have under heaven to live.

I worked on a grand scale - I built myself palaces, planted myself vineyards,

and made myself gardens and parks; in them I planted all kinds of fruit trees.

I made myself pools from which to water the trees springing up in the forest.

I bought male and female slaves, and I had my home-born slaves as well. I also had growing herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than anyone before me in Yerushalayim.

I amassed silver and gold, the wealth of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, things that provide sensual delight, and a good many concubines.

So I grew great, surpassing all who preceded me in Yerushalayim; my wisdom, too, stayed with me.

I denied my eyes nothing they wanted. I withheld no pleasure from myself; for I took pleasure in all my work, and this was my reward for all my work.

Then I looked at all that my hands had accomplished and at the work I had toiled at; and I saw that it was all meaningless and feeding on wind, and that there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I said to myself, "If the same thing happens to the fool as to me, then what did I gain by being wise?" and I thought to myself, "This too is pointless.

Here is a man whose work is done with wisdom, knowledge and skill; yet he has to leave it to someone who has put no work into it. This is not only pointless, but a great evil.

For to the man who is good from [God's] viewpoint he gives wisdom, knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of collecting and accumulating things to leave to him who is good from God's viewpoint. This too is pointless and feeding on wind.

Next I realized that all effort and achievement stem from one person's envy of another. This too is futility and feeding on wind.