100 Bible Verses About Vanity

Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:

All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.

But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:

For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!

And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:

They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.

For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.

Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.

The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.

The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.

The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:

Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.

After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.

And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.

Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?

When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;

Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.

So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?

He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.

A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.