en_tn_condensed/jer/18/15.md

been made to stumble in their paths

Yahweh speaks of a person's lifestyle as if it were a path along which he walks, and of living unfaithfully to him as if the person stumbled along the path. This can be stated in active form. Alternate translation: "this caused them to stumble in their paths" or "it is like they stumbled while walking on a path" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-activepassive)

they have left the ancient paths to walk lesser paths

Yahweh speaks of a person's lifestyle as if it were a path along which he walks. Here, "the ancient paths" represents the way that Yahweh had told their ancestors to live and "lesser paths" represents living unfaithfully to Yahweh. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)