Discovery BoxJeremiah 50:5-6 
Context50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;
they will turn their faces toward it.
They will come 1 and bind themselves to the Lord
in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. 2
50:6 “My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds 3 have allow them to go astray.
They have wandered around in the mountains.
They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. 4
They have forgotten their resting place.
1 tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).
2 sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.
3 sn The shepherds are the priests, prophets, and leaders who have led Israel into idolatry (2:8).
4 sn The allusion here, if it is not merely a part of the metaphor of the wandering sheep, is to the worship of the false gods on the high hills (2:20, 3:2).
