Vanity (Heb “hebel”) occurs thirty-seven times in Ecclesiastes, and is perhaps its most important term. The Heb word describes wind, breath, and vapor, but often refers metaphorically to the fleeting nature of such things as life or beauty (e.g., Job 7.16; Pss 39.5; 78.33; Prov 31.30), the ineffective character of knowledge, labor, or wealth (e.g., Job 9.29; 21.34; Ps 94.11; Prov 13.11), or the unreliability and emptiness of non-Israelite gods and peoples (e.g., Deut 32.21; Isa 30.7; Lam 4.17). Qohelet uses “hebel” in similar ways; but “breath,” though fleeting, is constitutive of life itself.
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