It is not clear who the poor and the needy are in this verse. Since the pronoun your in the last two lines refers to the Philistines, it seems the whole verse concerns them. Most versions do not specify who the poor and the needy are. By doing this, these versions probably imply they are Philistines (so Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version). However, Good News Translation identifies the poor in the first half of the verse as God’s people and contrasts them with the Philistines in the last half. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar by rendering the whole verse as follows: “The poorest in Israel will have enough to eat; those pursued by unhappiness will finally live in peace and security. But as for you [Philistines], God will let you die of hunger, and what is still left of you will be killed by the dragon.” Since it is unclear whether the poor were Israelites or Philistines, translators should not specify their nationality here.

And the first-born of the poor will feed: The Hebrew syntax of this line allows two readings. It is literally either “And they will shepherd the firstborn of the poor” or “And the firstborn of the poor will shepherd.” The first-born of the poor can be understood as the object or as the subject of the clause. If it is the object, who shepherds them? If it is the subject, whom do they shepherd? Good News Translation takes it as the object and identifies the shepherd as “The LORD.” However, the Hebrew verb translated will feed is third person plural (literally “they will shepherd”), so it seems the poor are the shepherds rather than Yahweh. For Revised Standard Version the first-born of the poor is the subject, but it seems to say the poor feed themselves since will feed has no explicit object. However, the Hebrew verb here means “to shepherd” rather than “to feed oneself.” As a tentative rendering of this line, we recommend “The firstborn of the poor will shepherd their flocks.”

The first-born of the poor is literally the firstborn children of poor people. But New International Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and many scholars consider this to be a superlative expression meaning “the poorest of the poor.” Revised English Bible emends the Hebrew word translated first-born, so that it reads “on my pasture ground.” For the whole line it has “The poor will graze their flocks in my meadows.” Bible en français courant (1997) combines these two approaches, saying “The most destitute will then be like a flock in its pasture.” New Jerusalem Bible believes this phrase refers to sheep, so for the whole line it has “While the first-born of the poor are grazing” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). We recommend rendering the first-born of the poor as “the very poorest [people]” (similarly Hebrew Old Testament Text Project).

And the needy lie down in safety: The needy is parallel to the poor (see 10.2). Will lie down in safety means that when they rest they will do so safely. In safety is literally “in/for trust.” There is peace and security for the underprivileged in the community. If the interpretation of Bible en français courant is adopted for the first line (see above), then behind this verse lies the image of the flock whose shepherd has found food and rest for his animals (compare Psa 23.1-2). Bible en français courant‘s second line reads “the unfortunate ones will finally have rest and security.”

But I will kill your root with famine: In contrast to the poor, the Philistines will starve to death. The word root does not refer to the “serpent’s root” (verse 29) but to the people remaining in Philistia. When a tree is cut down, its stump and roots are usually left in the ground. Yahweh says he will destroy even the root of the Philistines, leaving them no future. He will do it through a famine.

And your remnant I will slay: Your remnant is parallel to your root. For remnant see 10.20. Instead of I will slay, the Hebrew text has “he will slay,” which Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends. The third person pronoun could refer to the famine (so New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), the enemy coming from the north as described in the next verse (so Bible en français courant), the “flying serpent” of verse 29 (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), or the LORD (so Revised Standard Version, which uses the first person pronoun since the LORD is speaking). Most versions use the first person pronoun, so translators are free to do this. Slay may be rendered “kill,” “destroy,” or “wipe out.”

Translation examples for this verse are:

• The poorest will feed their flocks, the needy will rest securely;
but, Philistia, I will cause your root to die of famine and your remnant I will kill.

• Then the very poor will shepherd their sheep and the needy rest safely;
but your remaining people I will cause to die of starvation; it will destroy all of them.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .