The lambs are for thy clothing - So many fleeces are given in some places as rent to the landlord.

The (k) lambs [are] for thy clothing, and the goats [are] the price of the field.
(k) This declares the great goodness of God towards man, and the diligence that he requires from him for the preservation of his gifts.

The lambs are for thy clothing,.... This is another argument, exciting to diligence in the pastoral calling, taken from the profit arising from it: the wool of the lambs, or rather "sheep", as many versions render it; of it cloth is made, and of that garments to be worn, to keep decent, warm, and comfortable; see Job 31:20;
and the goats are the price of thy field: these, being brought up and sold, furnish the husbandman with money to purchase more fields to feed his cattle on. The Targum is,
"the goats are for negotiation;''
with the price of them a man may purchase any of the necessaries of life for himself and family; these are negotiated, Ezekiel 27:21; the Syriac version is, "the goats are for thy food"; and so, between both the sheep and goats, man has both food and raiment; though his food is particularly mentioned in Proverbs 27:27.

The price - By the sale whereof thou mayest either pay the rent of the field which thou hirest, or purchase fields or lands. Goats might better be spared and sold than sheep, which brought a more constant profit to the owner.