εἰκῇ G1500
In vain; without purpose or result; to no effect.
An adverb signaling that an action has been futile or purposeless. Paul uses it pointedly in his letters to challenge complacency: faith received 'in vain' if Christ is not risen (1 Cor 15:2), suffering endured 'in vain' if the Galatians turn back to law (Gal 3:4), and labor expended 'in vain' if they revert to calendrical observance (Gal 4:11). The word carries a sting -- it implies real effort or experience that has been rendered meaningless. Spanish 'en vano' and French 'en vain' capture the same hollow resonance.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Without result, in vain, to no purpose. Used adverbially to describe actions or experiences that fail to produce their intended outcome. In Rom 13:4 the governing authority does not bear the sword 'in vain' (i.e., purposelessly -- it genuinely enforces justice). In the Galatian and Corinthian epistles, Paul employs it as a rhetorical warning: the Galatians' suffering would be 'for nothing' if they abandon grace (Gal 3:4), and faith itself becomes empty if divorced from the resurrection (1 Cor 15:2). Every translation tradition -- English 'in vain,' Spanish 'en vano,' French 'en vain,' German 'vergeblich' -- converges on this single sense of futility. 6×
AR["باطِلًا", "بَاطِلًا"]·ben["বৃথাই", "বৃথাই?"]·DE["vergeblich"]·EN["in-vain", "vainly"]·FR["en-vain"]·heb["לַ-שָּׁוְא", "לַשָּׁוְא"]·HI["यों-ही", "व्यरथ", "व्यरथ?", "व्यर्थ-में"]·ID["dengan-sia-sia", "sia-sia"]·IT["eikē", "invano"]·jav["tanpa-alesah", "tanpa-guna", "tanpa-guna?", "tanpa-sebab"]·KO["공연히", "헛되이", "헛되이?"]·PT["em-vão"]·RU["напрасно", "носит", "тщетно"]·ES["en-vano", "vanamente"]·SW["bure"]·TR["bosuna", "boşuna", "boşuna-mı", "iman ettiniz"]·urd["بیکار", "بے-فائدہ"]
Related Senses
H5414 1. give, bestow (1855×)H3947 1. take, seize, grasp (Qal) (940×)G2192 1. possess / have (680×)G1325 1. give, bestow (336×)H5159 1. inherited land or property (170×)G2983 1. receive, obtain (134×)H3423 1. Qal: take possession of land (130×)G2983 2. take, take up (113×)G2398 1. one's own, belonging to oneself (91×)G3860 1. hand over, deliver to custody (78×)H7998 1. spoil, plunder, booty (74×)G1325 2. be given, be granted (70×)H5414 2. put, place, set (68×)H7999a 1. pay, repay, recompense (63×)H7069 1. Buy, purchase (59×)H1892 1. vanity, futility, absurdity (58×)H5159 2. heritage as covenant portion (52×)H6299 1. redeem or ransom (Qal active) (49×)H4376 1. Sell (Qal active) (47×)H1350a 1. Redeem, buy back (46×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
εἰκῇ, without plan or purpose, at random, at a venture, Refs 6th c.BC+ __II in vain, NT+1st c.BC+ __III slightly, moderately, ἀγγεῖα εἰ. πεπυρωμένα Refs 2nd c.BC+