18 Bible Verses About Vanity

Ecclesiastes 1:2

“‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’”

Reflection: The book introduces its speaker as “the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1), and this verdict is the first thing he says. The next verse sets out the question the book pursues: “What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?” The same words return in 12:8, just before the book’s closing verses.

Ecclesiastes 2:11

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.”

Reflection: Earlier in the chapter the Preacher lists what he built and gathered: houses, vineyards, gardens, pools, servants, herds, silver and gold (2:4-8). He says he withheld his heart from no pleasure and that his heart rejoiced in his labor (2:10). Looking back on all of it, he calls it “vanity and grasping for the wind” and finds “no profit under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 5:10

“He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.”

Reflection: Here the verdict falls on money. Silver does not satisfy the one who loves it, and the next verse adds that when goods increase, “they increase who eat them,” leaving the owner only the sight of them. Verse 12 sets the rich man beside the laborer, whose sleep “is sweet, whether he eats little or much.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.”

Reflection: The book’s closing verses speak of the Preacher in the third person, and they end with this conclusion. The New King James Version reads “this is man’s all” where the King James Version has “the whole duty of man.” The final verse gives the reason: “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (12:14). The same closing chapter repeats “all is vanity” in 12:8.

Psalm 39:6

“Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.”

Reflection: Psalm 39 is headed “A Psalm of David,” and it begins with his resolve to guard his tongue. He asks the Lord to make him know his end, “that I may know how frail I am” (39:4), and says that every man at his best state “is but vapor” (39:5). This verse adds the man who heaps up riches without knowing who will gather them, and the next turns to God: “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.”

Psalm 144:4

“Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”

Reflection: The word translated breath is hebel, the word of Ecclesiastes. It answers the question of the verse before: “Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?” (144:3), which is close to Psalm 8:4. The psalm is headed “A Psalm of David” and opens with praise to the God who “trains my hands for war” (144:1). Verses 3 and 4 set the brevity of man beside the fact that God takes notice of him.

Luke 12:15

“And he said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’”

Reflection: A man in the crowd asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance, and Jesus refused to act as judge between them (12:13-14) before giving this warning. The parable that follows tells of a rich man who plans bigger barns, and God says to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” (12:20). Psalm 39:6 says the same of the man who heaps up riches: he “does not know who will gather them.”

Proverbs 31:30

“Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.”

Reflection: The verse belongs to the poem that begins “Who can find a virtuous wife?” (31:10) and closes the book. “Beauty is passing” uses hebel, the same word Ecclesiastes translates vanity. Against charm and beauty the verse sets the fear of the Lord, and the last verse asks: “let her own works praise her in the gates.”

1 Samuel 16:7

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’”

Reflection: Samuel had come to Jesse’s family to anoint a king, and when he saw the eldest son, Eliab, he said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!” (16:6). The Lord refused Eliab and gave this reason. The one chosen was the youngest, who had been left out keeping the sheep (16:11-13).

1 Peter 3:3-4

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”

Reflection: Peter writes to wives, some married to husbands who “do not obey the word,” and says such husbands may be won by their wives’ conduct (3:1). The adornment he commends is “the hidden person of the heart,” set against hair, gold and fine clothes. Verses 5 and 6 point to “the holy women who trusted in God” in former times, naming Sarah.

Galatians 6:3

“For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Reflection: The chapter opens with the work of restoring someone “overtaken in any trespass,” done “in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted” (6:1). The warning against self-deception comes inside that instruction, and verse 4 gives the measure Paul sets instead: “let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

Galatians 5:26

“Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Reflection: The verse closes the chapter on the fruit of the Spirit and follows “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (5:25). The Greek for conceited is kenodoxos, vainglorious, and the King James Version reads “Let us not be desirous of vain glory.” Paul ties the conceit to two things it does to other people: provoking them and envying them.

Philippians 2:3

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

Reflection: Conceit here is kenodoxia, empty glory, which the King James Version translates “vainglory.” Paul sets it against “lowliness of mind,” and the next verse asks each to look to the interests of others. He then points to Christ, who “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (2:7).

Jeremiah 9:23-24

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me…’”

Reflection: The Lord names three things people boast of, wisdom, might and riches, and sets against them one boast he allows: understanding and knowing him as the Lord who exercises “lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.” Paul quotes the passage in 1 Corinthians 1:31: “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

1 John 2:16

“For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

Reflection: John has just said, “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (2:15), and this verse gives the reason for that command, listing what is in the world and ending with “the pride of life.” The next verse adds: “the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Matthew 6:1

“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Reflection: In the Sermon on the Mount this verse introduces three examples: giving, praying and fasting. In each, the hypocrites act to be seen, and Jesus says the same of them each time: “Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward” (6:2, 5, 16). The alternative he gives is to act in secret before “your Father who sees in secret” (6:4).

John 5:44

“How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?”

Reflection: Jesus is answering those who sought to kill him after he healed on the Sabbath and called God his Father (5:16-18). He has just said, “I do not receive honor from men” (5:41). His question links unbelief to the honor people trade with one another, set against “the honor that comes from the only God.”

John 12:43

“for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

Reflection: The verse is John’s explanation of the one before: many of the rulers believed in Jesus but would not confess him “because of the Pharisees,” for fear of being put out of the synagogue (12:42). John gives their reason in one line, the praise of men loved more than the praise of God.