Psalms 73:18

73:18 Surely ¹  you put them in slippery places;

you bring them down ²  to ruin.

Proverbs 4:19

4:19 The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness; ³ 

they do not know what causes them to stumble. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 13:16

13:16 Show the Lord your God the respect that is due him. ⁵ 

Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. ⁶ 

Do it before you stumble ⁷  into distress

like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. ⁸ 

Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for

into the darkness and gloom of exile. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 23:12

23:12 So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery.

They will stumble and fall headlong.

For I will bring disaster on them.

A day of reckoning is coming for them.” ¹⁰ 

The Lord affirms it! ¹¹ 

[73:18]  ¹ tn The use of the Hebrew term אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) here literarily counteracts its use in v. 13. The repetition draws attention to the contrast between the two statements, the first of which expresses the psalmist’s earlier despair and the second his newly discovered confidence.

[73:18]  ² tn Heb “cause them to fall.”

[4:19]  ³ sn The simile describes ignorance or spiritual blindness, sinfulness, calamity, despair.

[4:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “in what they stumble.”

[13:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “Give glory/respect to the Lord your God.” For this nuance of the word “glory” (כָּבוֹד, kavod), see BDB 459 s.v. כָּבוֹד 6.b and compare the usage in Mal 1:6 and Josh 7:19.

[13:16]  ⁶ tn The words “of disaster” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to explain the significance of the metaphor to readers who may not be acquainted with the metaphorical use of light and darkness for salvation and joy and distress and sorrow respectively.

[13:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “your feet stumble.”

[13:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “you stumble on the mountains at twilight.” The added words are again supplied in the translation to help explain the metaphor to the uninitiated reader.

[13:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “and while you hope for light he will turn it into deep darkness and make [it] into gloom.” The meaning of the metaphor is again explained through the addition of the “of” phrases for readers who are unacquainted with the metaphorical use of these terms.

[23:12]  ¹⁰ tn For the last two lines see 11:23 and the notes there.

[23:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”