הֶבֶל hevel
Hebrew word for “vanity” · Strong’s H1892 · used 73 times in 64 verses
Meaning
1) vapour, breath; 1a) breath, vapour; 1b) vanity (fig.); adv; 2) vainly
How it is translated
Glosses given for hevel in context, with how often each is used:
- futility 43
- vanity 11
- vanities 6
- breath 6
- futilities 5
- more than a breath 1
- among the vanities 1
Where it is used
| Book | Uses | Per 1,000 words | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ecclesiastes | 38 | 12.7 | |
| Psalms | 9 | 0.5 | |
| Jeremiah | 8 | 0.4 | |
| Job | 5 | 0.6 | |
| Proverbs | 3 | 0.4 | |
| Isaiah | 3 | 0.2 | |
| 1 Kings | 2 | 0.2 | |
| Deuteronomy | 1 | 0.1 | |
| 2 Kings | 1 | 0.1 | |
| Lamentations | 1 | 0.6 | |
| Jonah | 1 | 1.5 | |
| Zechariah | 1 | 0.3 |
Chapters where it is used most
Ecclesiastes 2 (8), Ecclesiastes 6 (5), Ecclesiastes 4 (4), Psalms 39 (3), Jeremiah 10 (3), 1 Kings 16 (2), Ecclesiastes 1 (2), Ecclesiastes 5 (2), Ecclesiastes 7 (2), Ecclesiastes 8 (2)
Forms
- הבל 48
- הבלים 4
- בהבליהם 3
- הבלי 3
- ההבל 2
- מהבל 2
- בהבל 2
- והבל 2
- הבלך 2
- בהבלי 2
Words used with it
Words that share verses with hevel more often than their overall frequency would suggest:
- זֶה zeh “this” 17
- גַּם gam “also” 14
- רְעוּת reut “longing” 6
- אָדָם adam “man” 11
- רוּחַ ruach “spirit” 9
- מַעֲשֶׂה maaseh “deed” 8
- שֶׁמֶשׁ shemesh “sun” 7
- עָמָל amal “trouble” 6
- אַיִן ayin “nothing” 9
- תַּחַת tachat “underneath” 8
- יֵשׁ yesh “there” 6
- אֲנִי ani “I” 9
Key verses
The verses using hevel that are most connected by cross-references (King James Version):
- Deuteronomy 32:21 — They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those…
- 2 Kings 17:15 — And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed…
- Psalms 39:5 — Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
- Psalms 39:6 — Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
- Psalms 62:9 — Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
- Ecclesiastes 2:26 — For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may…
- Ecclesiastes 4:4 — 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.
- Jeremiah 2:5 — Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
- Jeremiah 10:8 — But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
- Jeremiah 14:22 — Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait…
- Jeremiah 16:19 — O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say,…
- Zechariah 10:2 — For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock,…
See all 64 verses in the Word Atlas
Hebrew and Greek text, tagging, glosses and lexicon definitions: STEPBible.org, Tyndale House Cambridge (TAHOT, TAGNT, TBESH, TBESG; CC BY 4.0), adapted. Counts follow King James verse numbering; a word counts each time it is written.