hevel · vanity, breath

What it means

hevel (הֶבֶל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “vanity, breath”.

Vanity: a breath, an empty thing that is of no use; idols are called this.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A breath that passes and does not last; that brief is everything.
2. Idols, which are nothing.
3. With no result or gain, like someone toiling for nothing.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Vapor, breath: something that is seen but cannot be grasped and quickly disappears. From there, what does not last and what is of no use; in that sense idols are called so. It is the same sound as the name of Abel (הֶבֶל).

• “Everything {is} vapor” in Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes 1:2Ecclesiastes 11:10
• Human life is a vapor Psalms 39:5Psalms 144:4Job 7:16
• What does not last: beauty Proverbs 31:30
• Idols, a thing without substance Deuteronomy 32:21Jeremiah 10:8
• “In vain”: without result Job 9:29Job 21:34

How we translate it

“Vapor” 54 times and “vapors” 8. This edition sets “vapor”; in Ecclesiastes it gives the refrain “Vapor of vapors” (1:2). Outside Ecclesiastes, when it refers to false gods, it is translated “worthless idols” (3 times, Deuteronomy 32:21), and “in vain” when the phrase is adverbial (Job 9:29). So also Proverbs 31:30 reads: “a vapor {is} beauty”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• vapor ×54
• vapors ×8
• vain ×7
• worthless idols ×3
• emptiness ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Deuteronomy×1
• 1 Kings×2
• 2 Kings×1
• Job×5
• Psalms×9
• Proverbs×3
• Ecclesiastes×38
• Isaiah×3
• Jeremiah×8
• Lamentations×1
• Jonah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Deuteronomy 32:21

  They have provoked me to jealousy with what is not El; they have provoked me to anger with their worthless idols. So I will provoke them to jealousy with what is not a people; with a foolish nation I will provoke them to anger.

• 1 Kings 16:13

  because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and with which they made Israel sin, provoking to anger YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, with their worthless idols.

• 1 Kings 16:26

  He walked in all the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and in his sin, with which he made Israel sin, provoking to anger YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, with their worthless idols.

• 2 Kings 17:15

  They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies that he testified against them; and they went after what is vain and became vain, and after the nations that were around them, about which YHWH had commanded them not to do like them.

• Job 7:16

  I despise my life; I will not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a vapor.

• Job 9:29

  I will be counted wicked; why then do I toil in vain?

• Job 21:34

  How, then, do you comfort me in vain, and of your answers there remains unfaithfulness?”

• Job 27:12

  Look, all of you have seen it; why, then, do you become vain with a vain thing?

• Job 35:16

  So Job opens his mouth in vain; without knowledge he multiplies words.”

• Psalms 31:6

  I have hated those who keep vain idols of falsehood, but I in YHWH have trusted.

• Psalms 39:5

  Look, as handbreadths you have made my days, and my lifetime is as nothing before you; only a vapor is every human being standing firm. Selah.

• Psalms 39:6

  Only as an image does a man walk about; only for vapor are they agitated; he heaps up and does not know who will gather it.

• Psalms 39:11

  With rebukes for iniquity you correct a man, and you melt away like a moth what he treasures; only a vapor is every human being. Selah.

• Psalms 62:9

  Only vapor are human beings, a lie are the sons of man; on going up in the scales, they are together lighter than vapor.

• Psalms 78:33

  And he consumed in vapor their days, and their years in sudden terror.

• Psalms 94:11

  YHWH knows the thoughts of human beings, that they are vapor.

• Psalms 144:4

  A human being is like a vapor; his days are like a shadow that passes.

• Proverbs 13:11

  Wealth gained by vapor dwindles, but whoever gathers by hand increases it.

• Proverbs 21:6

  Getting treasures with a tongue of falsehood is a vapor driven away; they are seekers of death.

• Proverbs 31:30

  Deceptive is grace, and a vapor is beauty; a woman who fears YHWH, she will be praised.

• Ecclesiastes 1:2

  “Vapor of vapors,” says Qohelet, “vapor of vapors; everything is vapor.”

• Ecclesiastes 1:14

  I saw all the works that are done under the sun, and look, all is vapor and striving after wind.

• Ecclesiastes 2:1

  I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with joy; and look on the good.” And look, it too was vapor.

• Ecclesiastes 2:11

  And I turned to all my works that my hands had done and to the toil at which I had toiled in doing them, and look, all was vapor and striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

• Ecclesiastes 2:15

  And I said in my heart, “As the fate of the senseless, so it will befall me too; and why then have I been overly wise?” And I said in my heart that this too was vapor.

• Ecclesiastes 2:17

  And I hated life, for the work that is done under the sun was bad to me, for all is vapor and striving after wind.

• Ecclesiastes 2:19

  And who knows whether he will be wise or witless? Yet he will rule over all my toil at which I have toiled and in which I have been wise under the sun. This too is vapor.

• Ecclesiastes 2:21

  For there is a man whose toil is with wisdom and with knowledge and with skill, and to a man who has not toiled for it he will give it as his portion. This too is vapor and a great evil.

• Ecclesiastes 2:23

  For all his days are pains, and his occupation is vexation; even at night his heart does not lie down. This too is vapor.

• Ecclesiastes 2:26

  For to the man who is good before him he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives the occupation of gathering and collecting, to give to the one who is good before Elohim. This too is vapor and striving after wind.

• Ecclesiastes 3:19

  For the fate of human beings and the fate of the beast — one fate is theirs: as this one dies, so that one dies, and one breath is for all, and the advantage of the human being over the beast is nothing, for all is vapor.

• Ecclesiastes 4:4

  And I saw all the toil and all the skill of the work, that it is the envy of a man toward his neighbor. This too is vapor and striving after wind.

• Ecclesiastes 4:7

  And I turned and saw vapor under the sun:

• Ecclesiastes 4:8

  There is one, and no second; he has neither son nor brother, and there is no end to all his toil; also his eye is not satisfied with riches. “And for whom am I toiling and depriving my soul of good?” This too is vapor, and it is a bad occupation.

• Ecclesiastes 4:16

  There is no end to all the people, to all before whom he was; also the later ones will not rejoice in him. For this too is vapor and striving after wind.

• Ecclesiastes 5:7

  For in a multitude of dreams there are vapors and many words; but fear Elohim.

• Ecclesiastes 5:10

  Whoever loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, and whoever loves abundance, not with income. This too is vapor.

• Ecclesiastes 6:2

  a man to whom Elohim gives riches and possessions and honor, and he is not lacking for his soul anything of all that he desires; but Elohim does not give him power to eat from it, for a foreigner eats it. This is vapor and a bad sickness.

• Ecclesiastes 6:4

  For in vapor it came, and in darkness it goes, and with darkness its name is covered.

• Ecclesiastes 6:9

  Better is the sight of the eyes than the going of the soul. This too is vapor and striving after wind.

And 33 more times.