Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 50:6

"My people have 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 resting-place." — Jeremiah 50:6 (ASV)

My people have been lost sheep... —We note as interesting the dominance of this imagery here, as in Isaiah 53:6 and Ezekiel 34:5. The “shepherds” are, as always, the kings and civil rulers of the people. In the “mountains” and “hills,” we see partly the natural surroundings of the imagery, and partly a special reference to the idolatrous worship of the high places (Jeremiah 3:2; Jeremiah 3:6).

The Hebrew text as it stands reads, they have led them on seducing mountains, i.e., the “high places” which had so strange a fascination for them. The Authorized Version follows the marginal reading of the Hebrew. The “forgotten resting place,” or perhaps the fold, is, as in Jeremiah 50:7, the “habitation of justice,” the true pasturage, the righteousness which is found in fellowship with Jehovah Himself.