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. All that found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain, And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that prey upon her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah."

"Their shepherds have caused them to go astray ..." (Jeremiah 50:6). These evil shepherds here blamed for Israel's apostasy were their kings, judges, priests, and false prophets.

"I will cause to come against Babylon ... they shall set themselves against her ... she (Babylon) shall be taken" (Jeremiah 50:9). There are no less than six verbs, all in the future tense, which here announce that Babylon "shall be taken," making it an absolute certainty that Jeremiah 50:2 is in the prophetic past perfect tense.

"Be as the heights of the flocks ..." (Jeremiah 50:8). Judah here was admonished to be the leader (like the heights) in fleeing from Babylon. They did not heed this. As a matter of fact, they were hardly willing to leave at all, and many never left. The metaphor here is drawn from the fact that, "Once the sheepfold was opened, the male goats would rush from the enclosure first."[14]

"All that prey upon her shall be satisfied ..." (Jeremiah 50:10). The total destruction of Babylon is here promised, including the destruction even of her walls (Jeremiah 50:15, below). It is known that when Cyrus took the city, he did not need to break down the walls; and some careless commentators have faulted the prophecy in this instance; but they are in error.

"Cyrus did not destroy Babylon when he took it; but a little later in the Persian period the city revolted; and Darius Hystaspis captured it and destroyed its walls in 514 B.C. That was the beginning of the final and total ruin that eventually came to Babylon."[15]