Jeremiah 6 Footnotes

6:21 The Lord said he would place “stumbling blocks” before the people, a metaphor for situations in which they were likely to choose an unwise course of action with damaging consequences. When God places stumbling blocks, deceives (4:10; 10:7; 2Th 2:11), or sends false prophets (1Kg 22:19-23), he is merely letting people follow their own disobedient inclinations, even though he has clearly revealed his will for them. If we stumble, it is our own fault; if we do not, it is because in his mercy God has kept us from unwise choices. Jerusalem had, in effect, rejected God and his mercy, so God announced he would withhold his sustaining mercy and allow Judah to fall.