The Glory of God

The Old Testament contains numerous references to glory in relation to God:

• In Isaiah 42:12, to give God glory is to acknowledge His honor and praise Him.

• In Isaiah 42:8, God states that He will not share His glory with other gods (compare Isa 48:11).

• In Isaiah 43:7, God states that He created His people, Israel, “for [His] glory” (Isa 43:7).

• Joshua calls Achan to “give glory to the Lord God of Israel” prior to confessing sin (Josh 7:19 ESV; compare 1 Esdras 9:8; John 9:24; Rev 16:9).

• Psalm 3:3 describes God as “a shield about me, my glory” (Psa 3:3 ESV; compare Isa 58:8).

• In Zechariah 2:5, God declares that He will be “a wall of fire all around” Jerusalem, “the glory in her midst” (Zech 2:5 ESV).

• Isaiah 3:8 declares that God’s people “[defy] his glorious presence” (Isa 3:8 ESV, NRSV)

• Ezekiel 39:21 declares that Yahweh’s decisive defeat of Gog will display His glory (compare Isa 59:19).

• In Isaiah 35:2, Yahweh’s bringing His exiled people home will reveal His glory to the world (see also Isa 40:5).

• The Psalms describe Yahweh as gaining universal glory when all people acknowledge Him as the true God (Pss 57:11; 108:5).

God’s glory has royal associations:

• Yahweh bears the title “King of glory” (Psa 24:7–10).

• Yahweh is to reign in glory in Jerusalem (Isa 24:23).

• The title “King” is connected with glory (Isa 6:3; see also Isa 6:5).

“Glory” by itself may be used as a metonym for God as the “glorious one” (Psa 106:20; Jer 2:11).