Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
And strangers shall stand - (See the notes at Isaiah 14:1-2; Isaiah 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. It is not necessary to suppose that this is to be taken literally, nor that it should be so spiritualized as to suppose that the prophet refers to churches and their pastors, and to the fact, that those churches would be put under the care of pastors from among the pagan. The idea is, that it would be a time of signal spiritual prosperity, and when the accession would be as great and important as if foreigners were to come in among a people, and take the whole labor of attending their flocks and cultivating their fields.
Your plowmen - Hebrew, 'ikkâr , from which probably is derived the Greek ̓́ agros ; the Gothic akr ; the German acker ; and the English acre . It means properly a digger or cultivator of the soil, or farmer Jeremiah 51:26; Amos 5:16.
And vine-dressers - The sense here accords with that which has been so repeatedly said before, that the pagan world would yet become tributary to the church (see the notes at Isaiah 9:5-7, Isaiah 9:9-10).
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Isaiah 61:5:
Micah 5:4
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