“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 50:6 Mean?
"My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace." God diagnoses Israel's condition: lost sheep. And the cause: bad shepherds. The people didn't wander independently. They were led astray by the very leaders entrusted with their direction. The shepherds "caused them to go astray" and "turned them away" — active verbs indicating deliberate misdirection, not passive neglect.
The sheep wander from mountain to hill — moving constantly, never settling, because they've forgotten their resting place. The restless wandering is the fruit of leadership that pointed them toward peaks rather than pastures, toward elevation rather than rest.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What shepherd (leader, teacher, influencer) has led you astray — and do you recognize the misdirection?
- 2.Where have you been moving 'from mountain to hill' when God's plan was rest?
- 3.What 'resting place' have you forgotten because you've been wandering so long?
- 4.How do you identify the difference between a shepherd who leads to rest and one who leads from peak to peak?
Devotional
Lost sheep. And the shepherds did it. God identifies his people as lost — and immediately identifies the cause: leadership failure. The sheep didn't choose to get lost. They were led astray by the people responsible for leading them home.
Their shepherds caused them to go astray. The verb is causative: the shepherds made it happen. Actively. Not through negligence (though that would be bad enough) but through misdirection. They pointed the sheep toward the wrong mountains. They created paths that led away from the resting place. They used their position to direct the flock toward destinations God never intended.
From mountain to hill. The sheep move constantly — always climbing, always seeking, never resting. The mountains and hills that should have provided perspective instead provide disorientation. The higher they climb, the further they are from the valley where the pasture is. The leadership pointed them upward when God wanted them settled.
They have forgotten their resting place. The saddest diagnosis: they've been wandering so long they don't remember what home feels like. The resting place — the green pastures, the still waters, the presence of the true Shepherd — has been forgotten. Not rejected. Forgotten. They've been on the mountains so long they don't even know rest exists.
Every lost sheep was led astray by someone. The congregant who drifts from faith was often pointed in the wrong direction by a leader who should have known better. The person who can't find spiritual rest has often been chased from mountain to hill by leadership that values activity over peace. The sheep who's forgotten the resting place was once in the resting place — until a shepherd moved them.
God's indictment is for the shepherds, not the sheep. My people are lost. Their shepherds did this. And the resting place they've forgotten? It still exists. The Shepherd who speaks this verse is the one who knows where it is.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
My people hath been lost sheep,.... like lost sheep, without a shepherd, going astray the fold, wandering from place to…
Their shepherds ... mountains - Some translate it: Their shepherds, i. e., civil rulers (Jer 2:8 note) “have led them…
I. Here is a word spoken against Babylon by him whose works all agree with his word and none of whose words fall to the…
they have turned them away on the mountains The consonants of the MT. should be rendered on the seducingor apostate…
Cross References
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