Jeremiah 23:12

Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
way	דַרְכָּ֜ם dar.Kam	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
slippery	כַּחֲלַקְלַקּוֹת֙ ka.cha.lak.la.kOt	H2519	properly · preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
darkness	בָּֽאֲפֵלָ֔ה ba.'a.fe.Lah	H653	duskiness · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
on	יִדַּ֖חוּ yi.Da.chu	H1760	to push down · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
fall	וְנָ֣פְלוּ ve.Na.fe.lu	H5307	to fall · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
bring	אָבִ֨יא 'a.Vi'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
evil	רָעָ֛ה ra.'Ah	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
year	שְׁנַ֥ת she.Nat	H8141	a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular construct
visitation	פְּקֻדָּתָ֖ם pe.ku.da.Tam	H6486	visitation (in many senses · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
saith	נְאֻם ne.'um-	H5002	an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD	יְהוָֽה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Jeremiah 13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for ligh…
Psalms 35:6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
Jeremiah 11:23 And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
Exodus 32:34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in…
Psalms 73:18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Isaiah 8:22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
Jeremiah 48:44 He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring up…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 23:9-32

Here is a long lesson for the false prophets. As none were more bitter and spiteful against God's true prophets than they, so there were none on whom the true prophets were more severe, and justly. The prophet had complained to God of those false prophets (Jer 14:13), and had often foretold that they should be involved in the common ruin; but here they have woes of their own. I. He expresses the deep concern that he was under upon this account, and what a trouble it was to him to see men who pretended to a divine commission and inspiration ruining themselves, and the people among whom they dwelt, by their falsehood and treachery (Jer 23:9): My heart within me is broken; I am like a drunken m…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 23:12

slippery ways in . . . darkness--Their "way" is their false doctrine which proves fatal to them (Jer 13:16; Psa 35:6; Pro 4:19). I will bring evil . . . visitation--still more calamities than those already inflicted. See on Jer 11:23; "visitation," namely, in wrath.

John Gill on Jeremiah 23:12

Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness,.... Their course of life may fitly be compared, and in the issue will prove to be like to a man's walking in a dark night without any lamp or lantern to light him, and in a slippery way, scarce able to stand upon his legs, and cannot see to pick his way, nor where to step next, which is very uncomfortable and dangerous; such are blind leaders of the blind, and both in danger of slipping and falling into a ditch, Matthew 15:14; they shall be driven on, and fall therein; hurried on by Satan, and their own lusts, in their sinful ways to their ruin; or forced on into captivity and destruction; their enemies and the just ju…

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John Calvin on Jeremiah 23:12

Jeremiah 23:12 12. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. 12. Propterea erit via eorum ipsis tanquam lubricitates, in caligine impingent, et cadent in ea; quia inducam super eos malum, annum visitationis eorum, dicit Jehova. Here he declares to false prophets and unfaithful priests that the Lord's judgment was nigh at hand, because they had deceived the people. But he speaks figuratively when he says, that their way would be to them as lubricities. By way he understands the means which they thought to be of the best kind, as else…

The Church Fathers

Wherefore, as children of light and truth, avoid the dividing of your unity, and the wicked doctrine of the heretics, from whom "a defiling influence has gone forth into all the earth." But where the shepherd is, there do ye as sheep follow. For there are many wolves in sheep's clothing, who, by means of a pernicious pleasure, carry captive those that are running towards God; but in your unity they shall have no place.
— Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians

Let their way become dark and slippery, and let the angel of the Lord pursue them. He demanded that the situation of sinners be wholly arduous, so that their way, which seems to them clear and firm as they linger pleasurably on it, may become dark and slippery so that they cannot stand on it any longer. As the prophet Jeremiah says, "Therefore their way has become slippery in the dark. They shall be thrown down and fall on it." But if they decide to linger further in their evil ways, he asks that the Lord's power pursue them, so that he may not cause them to cling to their sins as they hasten to aspire after their own destruction. What a blessed proliferation of so many obstacles! How vehement is the prayer in this verse that the most salutary opposition is afforded them!
— Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 6

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Years · Illustrative: (Of visitation,) of severe judgments — Illustrative: (Of visitation,) of severe judgments

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Jeremiah 23:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 23:9-32

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 23:12

John Gill on Jeremiah 23:12

John Calvin on Jeremiah 23:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Jeremiah 23:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 23:9-32

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 23:12

John Gill on Jeremiah 23:12

John Calvin on Jeremiah 23:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Jeremiah 23:9–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jeremiah 23:12

Rashi on Jeremiah 23:12