Isaiah 5:17
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
American King James Version (AKJV)
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Then the lambs will get food as in their grass-lands, and the fat cattle will be feasting in the waste places.
Webster's Revision
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
World English Bible
Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat.
Clarke's Isaiah 5:17 Bible Commentary
The lambs "And the kids" - גרים gerim, "strangers." The Septuagint read, more agreeably to the design of the prophet, כרים carim, αρνες, "the lambs." גדים gedayim, "the kids," Dr. Durell; nearer to the present reading: and so Archbishop Secker. The meaning is, their luxurious habitations shall be so entirely destroyed as to become a pasture for flocks.
After their manner "Without restraint" - כדברם kedobram, secundum duetum eorum; i.e. suo ipsorum ductu; as their own will shall lead them.
Barnes's Isaiah 5:17 Bible Commentary
Then shall the lambs feed - This verse is very variously interpreted. Most of the Hebrew commentators have followed the Chaldee interpretation, and have regarded it as desired to console the pious part of the people with the assurance of protection in the general calamity. The Chaldee is, 'Then the just shall feed, as it is said, to them; and they shall be multiplied, and shall possess the property of the inpious.' By this interpretation, "lambs" are supposed, as is frequently the case in the Scriptures, to represent the people of God. But according to others, the probable design of the prophet is, to denote the state of utter desolation that was coming upon the nation. Its cities, towns, and palaces would be destroyed, so as to become a vast pasturage where the flocks would roam at pleasure.
After their manner - Hebrew, 'According to their word,' that is, under their own "command," or at pleasure. They would go where they pleased without being obstructed by fences.
And the waste places of the fat ones - Most of the ancient interpreters suppose, that the waste places of the fat ones here refer to the desolate habitations of the rich people; in the judgments that should come upon the nation, they would become vacant, and strangers would come in and possess them. This is the sense given by the Chaldee. The Syriac translates it, 'And foreigners shall devour the ruins which are yet to be restored.' If this is the sense, then it accords with the "first" interpretation suggested of the previous verse - that the pious should be fed, and that the proud should be desolate, and their property pass into the hands of strangers. By others (Gesenius, etc.), it is supposed to mean that strangers, or foreigners, would come in, and fatten their cattle in the desert places of the nation. The land would be so utterly waste, that they would come there to fatten their cattle in the rank and wild luxuriancy that would spontaneously spring up. This sense will suit the connection of the passage; but there is some difficulty in making it out from the Hebrew. The Hebrew which is rendered 'the waste places of the fat ones,' may, however, be translated 'the deserts that are rich - rank - luxuriant.' The word "stranger" denotes "foreigners;" or those who are not "permanent" dwellers in the land.
Wesley's Isaiah 5:17 Bible Commentary
5:17 Then - When God shall have finished that work of judgment.The lambs - The poor and harmless people, who shall be left in the land when the rich are carried into captivity. Manner - Or, by their fold, as this word is manifestly used, Micah 2:12 , the only place of scripture, except this, in which this word is found. Waste places - The lands left by their owners. Fat ones - Of the rich and great men. Strangers - The poor Israelites, who were left to be vine - dressers and husbandmen, 25:12 , who are called strangers, because they were so, inreference to that hand, not being the proper owners of it.