How will their way “be like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall”?
The word therefore
makes it clear that the Lord is announcing his judgment against the behaviour he has just described in Jeremiah 12:11. He says, their way will be to them like a slippery path in the darkness.
The image is of people trying to find their way along a dangerous and slippery path made worse by the fact that they are shrouded in darkness. The Lord’s judgment on them will be that the path of deception they have chosen, a path that is shrouded in the darkness of lies and half-truths, will cause them to fall. It is the Lord himself who will bring this about, for I will bring disaster on them.
This will happen in the year of their punishment.
The meaning is that the time of their punishment itself is the judgment of the Lord.1 The Lord pours out his judgment onto the prophets by handing them over to the consequences of their own rebellion and lies.
12 C'est pourquoi leur chemin sera glissant et ténébreux, Ils seront poussés et ils tomberont; Car je ferai venir sur eux le malheur, L'année où je les châtierai, dit l'Eternel.