Jeremiah 13:16

Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jeremiah addresses the people of Judah and Jerusalem, warning them to honor God before impending judgment arrives. The prophecy comes amid a call to repentance and a warning against arrogance.

The words — כָּבוֹד (ka.Vod) literally means glory or weight, paired with the command תְּנוּ (te.Nu) to give or render it. The phrase בְּ/טֶרֶם (be./Te.rem) marks the urgent temporal boundary before divine action.

The thread — The motif of sought light turning to darkness and stumbling appears in Isaiah 8:22, Isaiah 59:9, and Proverbs 4:19. These texts trace a consistent pattern where rebellion replaces expected deliverance with obscurity and ruin.

Why it lands — The text demands immediate honor to God before the window for repentance closes. It asks the reader to recognize that delayed obedience meets not rescue but irreversible judgment.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

תְּנוּ֩te.Nugive לַיהוָ֨הla./Yah.wehto/ Yahweh אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֤ם'e.lo.hei./KhemGod/ your כָּבוֹד֙ka.Vodglory בְּטֶ֣רֶםbe./Te.rem<in>/ before יַחְשִׁ֔ךְyach.Shikhhe will bring darkness וּבְטֶ֛רֶםu./ve./Te.remand/ <in>/ before יִֽתְנַגְּפ֥וּyit.na.ge.Futhey will stumble רַגְלֵיכֶ֖םrag.lei./Khemfeet/ your עַל־'al-on הָ֣רֵיHa.reimountains of נָ֑שֶׁףNa.sheftwilight וְקִוִּיתֶ֤םve./ki.vi.Temand/ you will wait לְאוֹר֙le./'Orfor/ light וְשָׂמָ֣הּve./sa.Ma/hand/ he will make/ it לְצַלְמָ֔וֶתle./tzal.Ma.vetinto/ deep darkness וְשִׁ֖יתve./ya.shitand/ he will make [it]לַעֲרָפֶֽל׃la./'a.ra.Felinto/ thick darkness

King James Version

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 light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

Cross-references

Isaiah 8:22 Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
Isaiah 59:9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
Proverbs 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
Isaiah 60:2 For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.
Joshua 7:19 So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make a confession to Him. I urge you to tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
Isaiah 5:30 In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
Amos 8:9 And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
Exodus 10:21 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”
1 Samuel 6:5 Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land.
Psalms 44:19 But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.