Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
Parallel translations
- WEB Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
- KJV Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
- NKJV Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit.
- NASB “Has a nation changed gods, When they were not gods? But My people have exchanged their glory For that which is of no benefit.
- NLT Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
No nation swaps its gods, yet Israel traded their glorious God for worthless idols. Their exchange was a senseless loss.
Overview
Yahweh marvels that nations keep their false gods, but Israel exchanged 'their glory,' the true God, for what cannot profit. The trade is portrayed as the height of folly, surrendering infinite worth for nothing. This warns against valuing created things over the Creator who alone is our glory.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 1:23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
- Isa 37:19They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
- Ps 106:20They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.
- Jer 16:20Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!”
- Mic 4:5Though each of the peoples may walk in the name of his god, yet we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.
- 1 Cor 8:4So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- Jer 2:8The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
- Ps 115:4Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Deut 33:29Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places.”
- Jer 2:5This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
- Ps 3:3But You, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head.
- 1 Pet 1:18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 2:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.