Bible Dictionaries
Vanity

　　Neither in the OT nor in the NT is the word ‘vanity’ used in the sense of self-conceit or vainglory (see Pride): it is always a rendering of κενός is ‘emptiness’ or ‘hollowness,’ while where ; Psalms 119:37τέλειος, that is, the disappointing character of the present existence with its unfulfilled aims and its pursuit of ends never realized. The word is found in Barn. iv. 10; Polyc. ad Phil. vii. 2; Ignatius, ad Trall. viii. 2. On the whole, an examination of the passages where ματαιολογία and הֶבֶל, though in Septuagint