Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.
Parallel translations
- KJV Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
- BSB They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.
- NKJV Thus they changed their glory Into the image of an ox that eats grass.
- NASB So they exchanged their glory For the image of an ox that eats grass.
- NLT They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull.
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
They traded their glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. It matters because idolatry exchanges the glorious God for something worthless.
Overview
The psalmist laments that Israel swapped the glory of God for a mere animal idol (Exodus 32). The absurdity is stark: the living God for a beast that eats grass. Paul echoes this folly in Romans 1:23, showing idolatry as a tragic, irrational exchange that only Christ can undo.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Jer 2:11Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
- Rom 1:22–23Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- Exod 20:4–5“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
- Ps 89:17For you are the glory of their strength. In your favor, our horn will be exalted.
- Isa 40:18–25To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 106:20 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.