If a nation hath changed their gods, and indeed they are not gods,: but my people have changed their glory into an idol.

Hath a nation changed gods? (And they are no gods!) And My people hath changed its honour For that which doth not profit.

Has any nation ever made a change in their gods, though they are no gods? but my people have given up their glory in exchange for what is of no profit.

Hath a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? But My people hath changed its glory For that which doth not profit.

See if a nation has ever changed their gods, though certainly those are not gods. Yet truly, my people have exchanged their glory for an idol.

An mutaverit gens deos, et ipsi non sunt dii? et populus meus mutavit gloriam suam in id quod non prodest.

A nation - A Gentile nation, in strong antithesis to people, the appellation of Israel.
Their glory - Though the worship of the one true God is a nation's greatest glory, yet it is irksome because it puts a constraint on human passions.
That which doth not profit - Israel had exchanged the prosperity which was God's reward of obedience for the calamities which resulted from idol-worship.

Hath a nation changed [their] gods, which [are] yet no gods? but my people have changed their (q) glory for [that which] doth not (r) profit.
(q) That is, God who is their glory, and who makes them glorious above all other people, reproving the Jews that they were less diligent to serve the true God, than were the idolaters to honour their vanities.
(r) Meaning the idols who were their destruction, (Psalm 106:36).

Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?.... Though they are not by nature gods which they worship, only nominal and fictitious deities, yet they did not change them for others; but when they once embraced the worship of them, continued therein; so did the Chittim, the inhabitants of the isles, who though they traded to distant countries, from place to place; and so the Kedarenes, who dwelt in tents, and fed cattle, and moved from one desert to another, and from one pasture to another, as Jarchi observes; yet they carried their gods with them, and did not exchange them for new ones where they came. The Jewish writers say (b), that the Kedarenes worshipped water, and the Chittim fire; and though they knew that water would quench fire, yet the latter would not change their gods. Kimchi and Abendana relate it just the reverse, and say the Kedarenes worshipped fire, and the Chittim water, which is most likely; and so it is said elsewhere (c).
But my people have changed their glory; the true God, who is glorious in himself, and whom they should have glorified, and have counted it their highest honour and glory that they knew him, and were the worshippers of him; yet they changed him, their glory, into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, Psalm 106:20, wherefore it is justly added,
for that which doth not profit; meaning Baal, and such like idols; see the note on Jeremiah 2:8.
(b) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 5. 2. (c) Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 60. 3.

glory--Jehovah, the glory of Israel (Psalm 106:20; Romans 1:23). The Shekinah, or cloud resting on the sanctuary, was the symbol of "the glory of the Lord" (1-Kings 8:11; compare Romans 9:4). The golden calf was intended as an image of the true God (compare Exodus 32:4-5), yet it is called an "idol" (Acts 7:41). It (like Roman Catholic images) was a violation of the second commandment, as the heathen multiplying of gods is a violation of the first.
not profit-- (Jeremiah 2:8).

Their glory - The true God, who was their glory; and who always did them good, giving them cause to glory in him.