Bible Strands
Isaiah 5:17
Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah delivers this oracle to Judah immediately after declaring that Yahweh will be exalted through justice and righteousness. The message follows warnings of impending judgment on the nation’s leadership and land.
The words — כְבָשׂ֖ים (khe.va.Sim) = lambs and גָּרִ֥ים (ga.Rim) = sojourners. The text states that lambs will graze normally while foreign sojourners will consume the food meant for the wealthy.
The thread — The motif of ruined cities becoming grazing land appears in Zephaniah 2:6 and Zephaniah 2:14. Isaiah 7:25 similarly notes that neglected hills will revert to wild pastures.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human wealth and territorial control are temporary. It requires the reader to accept that divine justice will strip the powerful of their security and redistribute their resources.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
Cross-references
- Zephaniah 2:6 So the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep.
- Isaiah 7:25 For fear of the briers and thorns, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample.
- Zephaniah 2:14 Herds will lie down in her midst, creatures of every kind. Both the desert owl and screech owl will roost atop her pillars. Their calls will sound from the window, but desolation will lie on the threshold, for He will expose the beams of cedar.
- Deuteronomy 28:33 A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- Nehemiah 9:37 Its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.
- Psalms 17:10 They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance.
- Psalms 17:14 from such men, O LORD, by Your hand—from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they leave their abundance to their children.
- Psalms 73:7 From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild.
- Psalms 119:70 Their hearts are callous and insensitive, but I delight in Your law.