Hebel – הָ֫בֶל: vapor, breath – 1892 |
| Original Word: הָ֫בֶלַ – Part of Speech: Noun Masculine |
| Transliteration: hebel – Phonetic Spelling: (heh’bel) – Short Definition: vanity |
When I study any book in the Bible, I usually review relevant aspects including words. In Ecclesiastes, Hebel is essential to the text. In looking at the occurrences of Hebel – הָ֫בֶלַ – through the Tanak, Old Testament, I have made seven groups of meaning.
Below are the occurrences of hebel through the Bible. Here I start with occurrences in Ecclesiastes. From Ecclesiastes I list occurrences in similar wisdom books, Psalms, the prophets, and ending with the remaining occurrences. These are the lists I put together for my study.
Hebel – הָ֫בֶלַ in Ecclesiastes |
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| Ecclesiastes 1:2 NAS: Vanity of vanities, says | Ecclesiastes 5:7 NAS: words there is emptiness. Rather, | |
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Ecclesiastes 5:10 NAS: This too is vanity. |
Ecclesiastes 1:2 NAS: Vanity of vanities, says | |
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Ecclesiastes 6:2 NAS: them. This is vanity and a severe |
Ecclesiastes 1:2 NAS: the Preacher, Vanity of vanities! |
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Ecclesiastes 6:4 NAS: for it comes in futility and goes |
Ecclesiastes 1:2 NAS: Vanity of vanities! All |
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Ecclesiastes 6:9 NAS: too is futility and a striving |
Ecclesiastes 1:2 NAS: of vanities! All is vanity. |
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Ecclesiastes 6:11 NAS: which increase futility. What |
Ecclesiastes 1:14 NAS: all is vanity and striving |
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| Ecclesiastes 6:12 NAS: years of his futile life? |
Ecclesiastes 2:1 NAS: it too was futility. |
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Ecclesiastes 7:6 NAS: And this too is futility. |
Ecclesiastes 2:11 NAS: all was vanity and striving |
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Ecclesiastes 7:15 NAS: during my lifetime of futility; there |
Ecclesiastes 2:15 NAS: This too is vanity. |
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Ecclesiastes 8:10 NAS: This too is futility. |
Ecclesiastes 2:17 NAS: everything is futility and striving |
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Ecclesiastes 8:14 NAS: There is futility which is done |
Ecclesiastes 2:19 NAS: This too is vanity. |
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Ecclesiastes 8:14 NAS: that this too is futility. |
Ecclesiastes 2:21 NAS: too is vanity and a great |
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Ecclesiastes 9:9 NAS: the days of your fleeting life |
Ecclesiastes 2:23 NAS: This too is vanity. | |
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Ecclesiastes 9:9 KJV: all the days of thy vanity: for that [is] thy portion |
Ecclesiastes 2:26 NAS: too is vanity and striving |
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Ecclesiastes 11:8 NAS: that is to come [will be] futility. |
Ecclesiastes 3:19 NAS: beast, for all is vanity. |
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Ecclesiastes 11:10 NAS: and the prime of life are fleeting. |
Ecclesiastes 4:4 NAS: too is vanity and striving |
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Ecclesiastes 12:8 NAS: Vanity of vanities, says |
Ecclesiastes 4:7 NAS: again at vanity under |
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Ecclesiastes 12:8 NAS: Vanity of vanities, says |
Ecclesiastes 4:8 NAS: too is vanity and it is a grievous |
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| Ecclesiastes 12:8 NAS: the Preacher, all is vanity! |
Ecclesiastes 4:16 NAS: too is vanity and striving |
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Hebel in Other Wisdom Texts |
Hebel in Proverbs |
| Proverbs 13:11 NAS: Wealth [obtained] by fraud dwindles, |
| Proverbs 21:6 NAS: Is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit |
| Proverbs 31:30 NAS: and beauty is vain, [But] a woman |
Hebel in Job |
| Job 7:16 NAS: for my days are [but] a breath. |
| Job 9:29 NAS: then should I toil in vain? |
| Job 21:34 NAS: How then will you vainly comfort |
| Job 27:12 KJV: Behold, all ye yourselves have seen [it]; why then are ye thus altogether vain? |
| Job 35:16 NAS: his mouth emptily; He multiplies |
Hebel in Lamentations |
| Lamentations 4:17 NAS: [Looking] for help was useless; In our watching |
Hebel in Deuteronomy and I & II Kings |
Hebel in Deuteronomy |
| Deuteronomy 32:21 NAS: Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous |
Hebel in I Kings |
| 1 Kings 16:13 NAS: of Israel to anger with their idols. |
| 1 Kings 16:26 NAS: God of Israel with their idols. |
Hebel in II Kings |
| 2 Kings 17:15 NAS: them. And they followed vanity and became vain, |
Hebel in the Prophets |
Hebel in Isaiah |
| Isaiah 30:7 NAS: whose help is vain and empty. |
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Isaiah 49:4 NAS: for nothing and vanity; Yet surely |
| Isaiah 57:13 NAS: all of them up, [And] a breath will take |
Hebel in Jeremiah |
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Jeremiah 2:5 NAS: after emptiness and became empty? |
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Jeremiah 8:19 NAS: with foreign idols? |
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Jeremiah 10:3 NAS: of the peoples are delusion; Because |
| Jeremiah 10:8 NAS: [In their] discipline of delusion– their idol is wood! |
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Jeremiah 10:15 NAS: They are worthless, a work of mockery; |
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Jeremiah 14:22 NAS: Are there any among the idols of the nations |
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Jeremiah 16:19 NAS: but falsehood, Futility and things |
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Jeremiah 51:18 NAS: They are worthless, a work of mockery; |
Habel in Jonah |
Hebel in Zechariah |
| Zechariah 10:2 KJV: they comfort in vain: therefore they went |
Brown-Driver-Briggs – I. הֶ֫בֶל73 noun masculine vapour, breath (Late Hebrew id., Syriac 
id.) figurative vanity (so Late Hebrew, Syriac 
— הָ֑בֶל Ecclesiastes 1:2 +; construct הֲבֵל Ecclesiastes 1:2 (twice in verse);Ecclesiastes 12:8, suffix הֶבְלִי etc. Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 7:15;Ecclesiastes 9:9 (twice in verse); plural הֲבָלִים Jeremiah 10:8 +; constructהַבְלֵי Jeremiah 8:19 +, suffix הַבְלֵיהֶם Deuteronomy 32:21 +; —
1 literal Isaiah 57:13 all of them (the idols) יִשָּׂארֿוּחַ יִקַּח הָ֑בֶל a breath (ᵑ9aura) will carry away, Proverbs 21:6 the getting of treasures by a lying tongue isהֶבֶל נִדָּף a vapour driven away. Elsewhere always
2 figurative of what is evanescent, unsubstantial, worthless, vanity, as of idolsJeremiah 10:15 = Jeremiah 51:18; Jeremiah 16:19 הֶבֶל וְאֵין בָּם מוֺעִיל “”(שֶׁקֶרׅ, heathen observances Jeremiah 10:3, and in phrase הָלַךְ אַחֲרֵי הַהֶבֶל Jeremiah 2:5; 2 Kings 17:15; Proverbs 13:11 הוֺן מֵהֶבֶל wealth (gotten) out of vanity, (i.e. not by solid toil, opposed to קֹבֵץ עַל יָד) is minished (but ᵐ5 ᵑ9 Ew מְבֹהָל, see Proverbs 20:21 Qr), Proverbs 31:30 שֶׁקֶר הַחֵן וְהֶבֶל הַיֹּ֑פִי, Lamentations 4:17 אֶל עֶזְרָתֵנוּ הֶבֶל to our vain (Dr§ 193 n.) help; of life Job 7:16 כִּי הֶבֶל יָמָֽי׃, Psalm 78:33 וַיְכַל בַּהֶבֶל יְמֵיהֶםconsumed their days as (בְּ I:7 d vanity, man Psalm 39:6; Psalm 39:12; Psalm 62:10 הֶבֶל בְּנֵי אָדָם ֗֗֗ הֵמָּה מֵהֶבֶל יָחַד׃ they are altogether (made) of vanity, Psalm 94:11; Psalm 144:4, especially in Ecclesiastes (31 t. + הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים Ecclesiastes 1:2 (twice in verse); Ecclesiastes 12:8) of the fruitlessness of all human enterprise and endeavour, Ecclesiastes 1:2 הַכֹּל הֶבֶל,Ecclesiastes 1:14 הַכֹּל הֶבֶל וּרְעוּת רוּחַ all was vanity and the pursuit of wind, Ecclesiastes 2:1 ,14,15 etc., Ecclesiastes 6:4 (of an abortion) בַּהֶבֶל בָּאi.e. into a lifeless existence, Ecclesiastes 6:11 יֵשׁ דְּבָרִים הַרְבֵּה מַרְבִּים הָ֑בֶל (of discussions leading to no result), note also the phrases יְמֵי (הֶבְלוֺ,הֶבְלְךָ) הֶבְלִי Ecclesiastes 7:15; Ecclesiastes 9:9, ׳יְמֵי חַיֵּי ה Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 9:9; Job 27:12 (see הָבַל), Isaiah 49:4 לְתֹהוּ וָהֶבֶל for nought and vanity have I spent my strength; as adverb accusative vainly, to no purpose Isaiah 30:7 הֶבֶל וָרִיק יַעֲזֹ֑רוּ, Psalm 39:7 אַךְ הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן they disquiet themselves to no purpose, Job 9:29: הֶבֶל אִיגָָֽע Job 35:16, with נִחַםto comfort Job 21:34; Zechariah 10:2. Plural הֲבָלִים of false gods,Deuteronomy 32:21 ) כִּעֲסוּנִי בְהַבְלֵיהֶם “” בְּלֹאאֵֿל) 1 Kings 16:13,26;Jeremiah 8:19 הַבְלֵי נֵכָר “” (בִּפְסִילֵיהֶםׅ, Jeremiah 10:8; Jeremiah 14:22הַבְלֵי הַגּוֺיִם, Psalm 31:7 הַשֹּׁמְרִים הַבְלֵישָֿׁוְא empty vanities Jonah 2:9; in more General sense Ecclesiastes 1:2 (twice in verse); Ecclesiastes 12:8 הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים, Ecclesiastes 5:6.