Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
- ESV Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does 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!
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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 traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.
- Isa 37:19and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.
- Ps 106:20Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.
- Jer 16:20Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?”
- Mic 4:5Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.
- 1 Cor 8:4Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
- Jer 2:8The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and followed things that do not profit.
- Ps 115:4Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Deut 33:29You are happy, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency? Your enemies will submit themselves to you. You will tread on their high places.”
- Jer 2:5Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless?
- Ps 3:3But you, Yahweh, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
- 1 Pet 1:18knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,
Resources, by level
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.