What is 'Hebel?'

Posted on: 2025-11-18

In the last few months, I've spent a lot of time studying Ecclesiastes, trying to get a better grip on the book. What do you do with a book of the Bible that keeps saying that "all is vanity" (ESV) or "everything is meaningless" (NIV)?

After all, that isn't true - everything isn't vain or meaningless. We know from the rest of Scripture that God is working all things for the good of those who love him (Rom 8:28); nothing that's part of his plan can be meaningless.

Commentators are all over the map in how they handle this (and other statements that appear unorthodox). Some dispute the translation of this word - "hebel" in Hebrew - as "vanity".

Having done some some research of my own, in this post, I want to reply to one such commentator. I'll save my broader thoughts on the book for a future post, but in summary: I think "vanity" is in fact a good translation.

Is Hebel just "Breath"?

In "Don't Waste Your Breath", Brian Borgman asserts that the Hebrew word "הֶ֫בֶל" (hebel, vapour, H1892) should be translated as "breath" and communicates brevity, not futility.

My journey in Ecclesiastes has led me to believe that this is a wonderful, even positive book that shows us that life is a gift from God which is to be enjoyed for His glory. Hebel is not meaninglessness, it is vapor, breath, or mist (as I will demonstrate). Ecclesiastes wrestles with the brevity of life, not its meaninglessness.

Re-stated:

As we go through this breath-taking book, we will see that the way Solomon uses hebel and the words he frequently pairs with it, indicate not that life is useless, vain, or meaningless, but that it is temporary or transient. Death is certain. This brings some mystery and enigma to life, especially in light of God’s permanence. Solomon is wrestling with the pain of a labor-filled life that is a mere breath. Why is this life so short? Why does it go by so fast?

He approvingly quotes Kathleen Farmer, who says:

It is possible, then, that hebel (meaning a puff of air) might be understood in either a positive or a negative sense. If the translation preserves the metaphor, the reader is forced to decide in what sense the comparison should be taken. In my opinion it is unfortunate that many modern versions of Ecclesiastes have chosen to take the decision away from the reader.

Borgman has many wise and edifying things to say in his book, and he has a deep love for Ecclesiastes, which I respect.

But in a survey of all the uses of hebel outside Ecclesiastes, I don't see any usages with a positive connotation.

Hebel's root meaning of "breath" is most clearly seen in Isaiah 57:13: "When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them all off, a breath will take them away."

The ESV translates hebel as "breath" or "fleeting vapor" in 7 other verses in Psalms, Job, and Proverbs. All of them refer to human lives and thoughts as insignificant; for example, Psalm 62:9 says "Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath"

Assuming Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, the most significant occurrence of hebel may be Proverbs 21:6, one of the proverbs of Solomon (Prov 10:1):

The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor [hebel] and a snare of death.

This "vapor" is certainly fleeting, but it is not a fleeting good to be savored while it lasts; it brings death.

The rest of the occurreces of the word in the OT are translated in the ESV as "hastily", "vain", "idol", "worthless", or "empty". None are positive, like "temporary but good".

If Borgman is correct that hebel in Ecclesiastes means "fleeting, but possibly good", that would seem to go against every other usage in the Old Testament and against Solomon's own usage of the word in Proverbs 21:6. That seems unlikely.

Based on this survey, I think "vanity" is in fact a good translation of "hebel" in Ecclesiastes.

How the ESV translates הֶ֫בֶל (hebel, H1892) Outside Ecclesiastes

The word hebel (H1892) and the related verb habal (H1891) occur in 36 verses of the OT outside Ecclesiastes. (The proper name Abel (H1893) is excluded here.) All occurrences are listed below under their ESV rendering; unless otherwise noted, the word is hebel.

Breath / Fleeting vapor

  • Job 7:16 - "Leave me alone, for my days are a breath"
  • Psalm 39:5 - "Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!"
  • Psalm 39:11 - "surely all mankind is a mere breath!"
  • Psalm 62:9 - "Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath"
  • Psalm 78:33 - "So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror"
  • Psalm 94:11 - "the LORD—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath"
  • Psalm 144:4 - "Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow"
  • Proverbs 21:6 - "The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death"
  • Isaiah 57:13 - "When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them all off, a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain."

Hastily

  • Proverbs 13:11 - "Wealth gained hastily [or 'by fraud'] will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it."

Vain / vainly / vanity

  • Job 9:29 - "I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?"
  • Job 27:12 - "why then have you become altogether vain [habal hebel]?"
  • Psalm 62:10 - "Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes [habal] on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them."
  • Proverbs 31:30 - "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised"
  • Lamentations 4:17 - "Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help"
  • Isaiah 49:4 - "But I said, 'I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.'"
  • Jeremiah 10:3 - "for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman."
  • Jeremiah 23:16 - "Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes [habal]."

Idols / false gods

  • Jonah 2:8 - "Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love"
  • Psalm 31:6 - "I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD"
  • Deuteronomy 32:21 - "they have provoked me to anger with their idols"
  • 1 Kings 16:13 - "provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols"
  • 1 Kings 16:26 - "provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols"
  • 2 Kings 17:15 - "They went after false idols [hebel] and became false [habal]"
  • Jeremiah 8:19 - "Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: 'Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?' 'Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?'"
  • Jeremiah 10:8 - "the instruction of idols is but wood!"
  • Jeremiah 14:22 - "Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things."

Worthless / worthlessness

  • Isaiah 30:7 - "Egypt's help is worthless and empty"
  • Jeremiah 16:19 - ""Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit"
  • Jeremiah 51:18 - "They are worthless, a work of delusion"
  • Jeremiah 10:15 - "They are worthless, a work of delusion"
  • Jeremiah 2:5 - "went after worthlessness [hebel], and became worthless [habal]?"

Empty / nothing

  • Job 21:34 - "How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?"
  • Job 35:16 - "Job opens his mouth in empty talk"
  • Zechariah 10:2 - "the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation"
  • Psalm 39:6 - "Surely for nothing they are in turmoil"