רִיק
riq (H7385)
vain
AI Word Study
# The Hebrew Word *Riq* (ריק): Emptiness and Futility The Hebrew word *riq*, appearing twelve times in the Hebrew Bible, carries the fundamental meaning of "vain"—conveying the sense of something empty, hollow, or lacking substance. This term functions as a descriptor for conditions, actions, or endeavors that are devoid of real value or meaningful outcome. The translation "vain" captures both the literal sense of physical emptiness and the more abstract notion of purposelessness or ineffectiveness. The twelve occurrences suggest that *riq* was used selectively to emphasize particular situations where writers wanted to stress futility or meaninglessness. Rather than being a common everyday term, it appears to have been reserved for moments of rhetorical or theological weight—moments when authors needed to convey not merely absence, but the deeper problem of wasted effort or hollow promises. This concentrated usage pattern indicates the word carried considerable conceptual weight in biblical discourse about human action and divine purposes. Understanding *riq* as "vain" provides insight into how biblical writers expressed frustration with ineffectiveness and emptiness. Whether applied to broken promises, failed efforts, or unfounded hopes, the word communicates a fundamental disconnect between intention and reality, between effort and meaningful result. This makes *riq* a valuable window into how ancient Hebrew speakers conceptualized the problem of futility in
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.
She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,
Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?
You sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? Will you love vanity and seek after falsehood?
Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence,
For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still.
But I said, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.”
They will not labor in vain nor give birth for calamity; for they are the offspring of Yahweh’s blessed and their descendants with them.
“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his mouth with my delicacies. He has cast me out.
Yahweh of Armies says: “The wide walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown. Her high gates will be burned with fire. The peoples will labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they will be weary.”
Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?