Quotes About Futility

Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.

Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.

The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet of foot will not escape, and the horseman will not save his life.

It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.

Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.

You will eat but not be satisfied, and your hunger will remain with you. What you acquire, you will not preserve; and what you save, I will give to the sword.

For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard—like stubble that is fully dry.

Nineveh has been like a pool of water throughout her days, but now it is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.

Then they sweep by like the wind and pass on through. They are guilty; their own strength is their god.”

Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.

This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.

You have said, ëIt is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?

So he thought to himself, ëWhat shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?í

Then he said, ëThis is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods.

Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

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

And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

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.

For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.

These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.

They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.