What Does Isaiah 61:5 Mean in the King James?
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The one marked as foreign is pictured as the caretaker of your nourishment and future fruit.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks of a life where the person marked as outside tends what feeds and fruits your world. Your flock, field, and vineyard are sustained through shared work across the boundary of the familiar. Belonging takes visible shape in care that preserves nourishment and cultivates future fruit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only those who already belong can care for what sustains you.
THE ROOT
נֵכָר
nēkhār
GROWS FROM
נכר
To recognize, distinguish, or mark as foreign.
The Hebrew word for “alien” names the person regarded as outside, while the same root also forms a verb meaning “recognize.” Yet the line gives this person a place in the work that sustains the community: tending flocks and cultivating fields and vines.
ALSO GROWS
nākhrî: Foreigner, outsider.
נָכְרִי
This related form names the person identified as belonging elsewhere, the very person entrusted here with sustaining work.
hikkîr: Recognize, identify.
הִכִּיר
The shared root connects the foreigner with the act of distinguishing or recognizing someone as different.
וְרָעוּ
wə-rāʿû
GROWS FROM
רעה
To graze, tend, or shepherd.
The verb rendered “feed” is also a shepherding verb: it holds nourishment and ongoing care together. The same root names the keeper and the pasture, so provision appears as a relationship between tending hands, flock, and sustaining ground.
ALSO GROWS
rōʿeh: Shepherd, one who tends a flock.
רֹעֶה
The person who feeds the flock is also its keeper, making care part of the provision.
mirʿeh: Pasture, grazing place.
מִרְעֶה
The root links the act of feeding with the place that sustains the flock.
THE PATTERN
Restoration makes room for those marked as outsiders to participate in the work and life of the community.
Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;THE THREAD
Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;Both verses use בְּנֵי הַנֵּכָר (bənê hannekhār, “sons of the foreigner”), from נכר (n-k-r, “recognize or mark as foreign”). Isaiah 56:6 shows these outsiders joining in service; here that service takes visible form in tending what nourishes and bears fruit.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us