Midvash

הֶבֶלhebel

vapour, breath

Pronunciation: heh'bel · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H1892

Meanings

1. literal (Isaiah 57:13; Proverbs 21:6)

2. vanity, figurative of what is evanescent, unsubstantial, worthless (Jeremiah 10:15; Jeremiah 51:18; Jeremiah 16:19)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 73 times in the Bible.

  • Deuteronomy 32:21 They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God; they have provoked my anger with their useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people; I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles.
  • 1 Kings 16:13 This happened because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed, and because of the sins they led Israel to commit. They provoked the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, with their worthless idols.
  • 1 Kings 16:26 He followed the example of Jeroboam son of Nebat in all the sins he had committed and led Israel to commit. The people provoked the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, with their worthless idols.
  • 2 Kings 17:15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them.
  • Job 7:16 I hate my life and don’t want to go on living. Oh, leave me alone for my few remaining days.
  • Job 9:29 Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what’s the use of trying?
See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).