Isaiah 61:5
in Isaiah 61Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers.
KJV
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
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This verse in Isaiah 61
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 3-5) And they shall be called in her strong justices, the plantation of the Lord, to glorify. And they shall build the ancient places that were waste, and shall raise up the desolate cities, that were destroyed for generations and generations. And strangers shall stand and shall feed your flocks: and the sons of strangers shall be your husbandmen and your vinedressers. LXX: And they shall be called the generations of justice: the planting of the Lord to glory.
This site's exposition
they shall build the old wastes
on Isaiah 61:4-6
They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations pictures a returned people doing physical rebuilding work, repairing waste cities that had stood ruined for generations. Verses 5 and 6 draw a sharp line, strangers shall stand and feed your flocks while ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord, a role reversal in which the nation once serving in exile now holds a priestly title while foreign labor does the herding. Barnes reads eat the riches of the Gentiles as the same reversal already promised at chapter 60, and Wesley notes the priestly title given here to the whole nation echoes Exodus 19's kingdom of priests rather than naming a new office.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
1078. Second, as to the keeping of their possessions: and strangers shall stand. This could be fulfilled literally, as some foreigners were employed in these menial services, like the Gabaonites: so let them live, as to serve the whole multitude (Josh 9:21); or mystically: the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Strangers - Gentiles, such as are not of the natural race of the Jews, but Gentile converts. Or, such as shall have no more than an outward profession.
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,....
When, by the grace of God, we attain to a holy indifference as to all the affairs of this world, buying as though we possessed not --when, though our hands are employed about them, our hearts are not entangled with them, but reserved entire for God and his service--then the sons of the alien are our ploughmen and vine-dressers.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And strangers shall stand - (See the notes at Isa 14:1-2; Isa 60:10). And feed your flocks - The keeping of flocks constituted a very considerable part of the husbandry of those who dwelt in Palestine. Of course, any considerable prosperity of a spiritual nature would be well represented by an accession of foreigners, who should come to relieve them in their toil.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Strangers shall - feed your flocks - Gentiles shall first preach to you the salvation of Christ, and feed with Divine knowledge the Jewish congregations.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעָמְד֣וּ | veamedu | and they will stand | H5975 → | 521 times |
| זָרִ֔ים | zarim | strangers | H2114 → | 77 times |
| וְרָע֖וּ | verau | and they will shepherd | H7462 → | 177 times |
| צֹאנְכֶ֑ם | tzonkhem | flock[s] your | H6629 → | 274 times |
| וּבְנֵ֣י | uvenei | and sons of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| נֵכָ֔ר | nekhar | foreignness | H5236 → | 36 times |
| אִכָּרֵיכֶ֖ם | ʾikareikhem | [will be] farmers your | H406 → | |
| וְכֹרְמֵיכֶֽם׃ | vekhoremeikhem | and vinedressers your | H3755 → |
וְעָמְד֣וּand they will stand
veameduH5975 →521 times
זָרִ֔יםstrangers
zarimH2114 →77 times
וְרָע֖וּand they will shepherd
verauH7462 →177 times
צֹאנְכֶ֑םflock[s] your
tzonkhemH6629 →274 times
וּבְנֵ֣יand sons of
uveneiH1121 →4930 times
נֵכָ֔רforeignness
nekharH5236 →36 times
אִכָּרֵיכֶ֖ם[will be] farmers your
ʾikareikhemH406 →
וְכֹרְמֵיכֶֽם׃and vinedressers your
vekhoremeikhemH3755 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.