Why must Judah give glory to the Lord before he brings darkness and their feet stumble on the twilight mountains?
Jeremiah uses the image of someone walking on a mountain path as the sun is busy going down. At first there is a warning to Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness.
Walking on a mountain path in the darkness is treacherous and will cause the person in the image to stumble. Stumbling is often used to speak of experiencing the Lord’s judgment, and the repetition of the word before
emphasizes the fact that this is the last opportunity to repent.1 The people of Judah, who were meant to reflect the glory
of the Lord (Jeremiah 13:11) are being urged by Jeremiah to repent of their failure before the whole land is covered in the darkness of the Lord’s judgment that will come in the form of the Babylonian invasion and exile (see further Isaiah 5:20; Isaiah 9:1; Amos 8:9).2 But these are a people who look for light.
They have experienced invasions in the past, also sent by the Lord in judgment, and so they are now confident that daylight will come and all will be well this time as well. The Lord, however, turns light into gloom and makes it deep darkness.
This time the Lord is going to bring about a reversal of how things normally are. This time darkness will be followed by darkness. Their only hope now is to repent.
16 Rendez gloire à l'Eternel, votre Dieu, Avant qu'il fasse venir les ténèbres, Avant que vos pieds se heurtent contre les montagnes de la nuit; Vous attendrez la lumière, Et il la changera en ombre de la mort, Il la réduira en obscurité profonde.