μάταιος
vain
‘vain’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Nominative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
Case
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Neuter
- Grammatically neuter.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
4 distinct verses where G3152 appears in the Nominative case, across 3 books. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
1 Corinthians 2 verses
Titus 1 verse
James 1 verse
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
The Greek adjective ματαιος centers on the idea of “vain.” First canonically at Acts 14:15, it enters the text early. It turns up in 6 verses across 5 books, an uncommon footprint. The word gravitates to 1 Corinthians (33%), then Acts and Titus. Lexicons map it across 2 senses. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G3152 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 6
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 6 distinct verses.
- 5 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 5 of 27 New Testament books.
- #1,476
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Greek words (rank 1,476 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 6 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 1 Corinthians 2 verses 33%
- Acts 1 verse 17%
- Titus 1 verse 17%
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 6 distinct verses.
- Pauline corpus 3 verses · 50%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 2 verses · 33%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 1 verse · 17%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Vain 3×, Is vain 2×
- American Standard Version: Vain 3×, Is vain 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Futile 2×, Worthless 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Futile 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G3152 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G3152 across 7 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G3152 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G3152 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 2 senses Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- devoid of force, truth, success, result
- useless, of no purpose
Word origin
Derived from ματην (mátēn) (G3155) — in vain.
From the base of G3155 ; empty that is (literally) profitless or (specifically) an idol : - vain vanity.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 5 distinct written forms G3152 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| μάταιοι mátaioi | Adjective, Nominative, Plural, Feminine | Titus 3:9 | 2 |
| μάταιος mátaios | Adjective, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | James 1:26 | 1 |
| ματαία mataía | Adjective, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | 1 Corinthians 15:17 | 1 |
| ματαίας mataías | Adjective, Genitive, Singular, Feminine | 1 Peter 1:18 | 1 |
| ματαίων mataíōn | Adjective, Genitive, Plural, Neuter | Acts 14:15 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G3152, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Derived from this word
- ματαιολογος mataiológos G3151 idle talker
- ματαιοτης mataiótēs G3153 depravity
- ματαιοω mataióō G3154 to make vain
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word ματαιος appears 68 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 63 verses in 20 books.
- 68
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 63
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 20 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 20 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Exodus 20:7 μάταιος
- Leviticus 17:7 μάταιος
- Deuteronomy 5:11 μάταιος
- 1 Kings 16:2 μάταιος
- 2 Kings 17:15 μάταιος
- 2 Chronicles 11:15 μάταιος
- Job 20:18 μάταιος
- Psalms 5:10 μάταιος
- Proverbs 12:11 μάταιος
- Isaiah 1:13 μάταιος
- Jeremiah 2:5 μάταιος
- Lamentations 2:14 μάταιος
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G3152) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 63. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Exodus 20:7 μάταιος "You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
- Exodus 23:1 μάταιος "You shall not spread a false report. Don't join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
- Leviticus 17:7 μάταιος They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat idols, after which they play the prostitute. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.'
- Deuteronomy 5:11 μάταιος "You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain: for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
- 1 Kings 16:2 μάταιος Because I exalted you out of the dust, and made you prince over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;
- 1 Kings 16:13 μάταιος for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned, and with which they made Israel to sin, to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.
- 1 Kings 16:26 μάταιος For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he made Israel to sin, to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.
- 2 Kings 17:15 μάταιος They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and [went] after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Yahweh had charged those who they should not do like them.
- 2 Chronicles 11:15 μάταιος and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.
- Job 20:18 μάταιος That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down; According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.
- Psalms 5:10 μάταιος Hold them guilty, God. Let them fall by their own counsels; Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against you.
- Psalms 11:3 μάταιος If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?
- Psalms 23:4 μάταιος Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
- Psalms 59:13 μάταιος Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, To the ends of the earth. Selah.
- Psalms 61:10 μάταιος
- Psalms 93:11 μάταιος
- Psalms 107:13 μάταιος Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, And he saved them out of their distresses.
- Proverbs 12:11 μάταιος He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, But he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
- Proverbs 21:6 μάταιος Getting treasures by a lying tongue Is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.
- Proverbs 26:2 μάταιος Like a fluttering sparrow, Like a darting swallow, So the undeserved curse doesn't come to rest.
- Proverbs 30:8 μάταιος Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;
- Proverbs 31:30 μάταιος Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; But a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.
- Isaiah 1:13 μάταιος Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies.
- Isaiah 2:20 μάταιος In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, And their idols of gold, Which have been made for themselves to worship, To the moles and to the bats;
- Isaiah 22:2 μάταιος You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
- Isaiah 28:29 μάταιος This also comes forth from Yahweh of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.
- Isaiah 29:8 μάταιος It shall be as when a hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against Mount Zion.
- Isaiah 30:7 μάταιος For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still.
- Isaiah 30:15 μάταιος For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. You would not:
- Isaiah 30:28 μάταιος and his breath is as an overflowing stream, that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction: and a bridle that causes to err [shall be] in the jaws of the peoples.
- Isaiah 31:2 μάταιος Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of those who work iniquity.
- Isaiah 32:6 μάταιος For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profanity, and to utter error against Yahweh, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
- Isaiah 33:11 μάταιος You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath is a fire that shall devour you.
- Isaiah 44:9 μάταιος Those who fashion an engraved image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses don't see, nor know: that they may be disappointed.
- Isaiah 45:19 μάταιος I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I didn't say to the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain: I, Yahweh, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
- Isaiah 49:4 μάταιος But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice [due] to me is with Yahweh, and my recompense with my God.
- Isaiah 59:4 μάταιος None sues in righteousness, and none pleads in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
- Jeremiah 2:5 μάταιος thus says Yahweh, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
- Jeremiah 8:19 μάταιος Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: isn't Yahweh in Zion? Isn't her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?
- Jeremiah 10:3 μάταιος For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
- Jeremiah 10:15 μάταιος They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
- Jeremiah 28:18 μάταιος
- Lamentations 2:14 μάταιος Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, But have seen for you false oracles and causes of banishment.
- Lamentations 4:17 μάταιος Our eyes do yet fail [in looking] for our vain help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
- Ezekiel 8:10 μάταιος So I went in and saw; and see, every form of creeping things, and abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed on the wall round about.
- Ezekiel 11:2 μάταιος He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;
- Ezekiel 13:6 μάταιος They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, Yahweh says; but Yahweh has not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.
- Ezekiel 13:7 μάταιος Haven't you seen a false vision, and haven't you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, Yahweh says; but I have not spoken?
- Ezekiel 13:8 μάταιος Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have spoken falsehood, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 13:9 μάταιος My hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions, and who divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G3152) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
