Word study

Futility

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: futility, futilities. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “futility” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • הֶבֶל hebelvapour, breathtranslated this way 12 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H1892Noun  ·  Translated: futile 25, worthless idols 9, futility 8, fleeting 5

    Psalm 78:33 So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.

    Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”

    Full study and all 64 verses →
  • שָׁוְא shâveemptiness, vanitytranslated this way 2 times of its 52 uses · Strong’s H7723Noun  ·  Translated: vain 12, false 8, falsehood 4, worthless 4

    Job 7:3 So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed to me.

    Psalm 89:47 Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!

    Full study and all 47 verses →
  • תֹּהוּ tôhûformlessness, confusion, unreality, emptinesstranslated this way 1 time of its 20 uses · Strong’s H8414Noun  ·  Translated: empty 4, wasteland 4, formless 2, chaos 2

    Isaiah 49:4 But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength in futility and vanity; yet My vindication is with the LORD, and My reward is with My God.”

    Full study and all 19 verses →
  • אֱלוּל ĕlûlgood for nothingtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H434Noun  ·  Translated: futility 1

    Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.

    Full study and its 1 verse →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ματαιότης mataiótēsvanity, purposelessnesstranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3153Noun  ·  Translated: futility 2, empty 1

    Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

    Ephesians 4:17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.