for nothing: an act done with nothing paid for it, nothing to warrant it, or nothing gained by it
This word comes from the Hebrew word for grace or favor, and at its heart it describes an action that runs one way only, with nothing coming back the other way. Whatever is done is done for no payment, on no good reason, or to no result.
Because of that single core, the word swings between opposite emotional charges depending on the kind of act it describes.
- When the act is a gift, it means "free of charge": Jacob will not work for Laban for nothing, a Hebrew servant goes out free, David refuses to give God an offering that cost him nothing.
- When the act is an attack, the same word means "without cause": the psalmist's enemies hate him for no reason, and innocent blood is spilled with no justification.
- When the act simply fails, it means "in vain": God insists he has not threatened judgment to no effect.
That range is why one Hebrew word can hold together two ideas later readers tend to keep far apart, unearned kindness and unearned harm. The book of Job turns on it. The Accuser asks whether Job serves God for nothing, and God later says Job was ruined for no reason. Isaiah plays on the tie to grace, saying Israel was sold for nothing and will be bought back with no money. When John's Gospel quotes the line they hated me without cause, it is reaching back into exactly this word's double life.
Nuances
Whether the Accuser's question means Job fears God for no reward (a challenge to Job's motive) or that Job's fear of God has produced no benefit (it has been well rewarded).
- majorityJob fears God for nothing, that is, for no reward; the Accuser questions whether disinterested piety is even possible.; David J. A. Clines, Job 1-20 (WBC 17), on 1:9; Marvin H. Pope, Job (Anchor Bible), on 1:9
- minorityBoth here and in 2:3 the word means without benefit, to no effect; the Accuser claims Job's fear of God has not gone unrewarded.; Tod Linafelt and Andrew R. Davis, Translating hnm in Job 1:9 and 2:3, Vetus Testamentum 63 (2013): 627-639
Whether the word goes with to destroy him (God was moved to ruin Job without cause) or with you incited me (you incited me in vain), and whether it means without cause or to no effect.
- majorityThe word goes with to destroy him: God was induced to ruin Job with no cause.; David J. A. Clines, Job 1-20 (WBC 17), on 2:3; Norman C. Habel, The Book of Job (OTL), on 2:3
- minorityThe word goes with you incited me: in vain you incited me against him.; Edouard Dhorme, A Commentary on the Book of Job, on 2:3; S. R. Driver and G. B. Gray, Job (ICC), on 2:3
- minorityBoth 1:9 and 2:3 mean without benefit, to no effect.; Tod Linafelt and Andrew R. Davis, Translating hnm in Job 1:9 and 2:3, Vetus Testamentum 63 (2013): 627-639
What the word means in the proverb about a net spread in the sight of a bird.
- majorityIn vain: the net is spread to no purpose, since a bird that sees it flies away.; Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs 1-15 (NICOT), on 1:17; Roland E. Murphy, Proverbs (WBC 22), on 1:17
- minorityWithout cause: the bird sees no reason for alarm, mirroring the victim who does not see the ambush.; Michael V. Fox, Proverbs 1-9 (Anchor Yale Bible), on 1:17
Disputed
How much of the word's original tie to grace or favor still colors its use, and whether its range is one idea or a set of separable senses.
- majorityThe senses all radiate from a single idea, an act with no exchange, no ground, and no yield, and the link to favor still shapes the word.; David Noel Freedman and Jack R. Lundbom, hanan, in TDOT, vol. 5, pp. 22-36; D. R. Ap-Thomas, Some Aspects of the Root HNN in the Old Testament, Journal of Semitic Studies 2 (1957)
- minorityIn most contexts the word is worn smooth of any gift flavor; the free of charge sense is clearly active only in a few legal and commercial texts.; H. J. Stoebe, hnn, in TLOT (THAT), s.v.