Isaiah 17:9
in Isaiah 17In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken thickets and summits, abandoned to the Israelites and to utter desolation.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In that day shall their strong cities be as the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it shall be a desolation.
KJV
In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
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This verse in Isaiah 17
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verses 9, 10.) On that day your fortified cities will be deserted like plowed fields and cornfields that have been deserted by the children of Israel. And it will be desolate, because you have forgotten your God, your Savior, and have not remembered your strong helper. LXX: On that day your cities will be deserted like the cities abandoned by the Amorites and the Hivites before the children of Israel. And they will be deserted because you have abandoned your God, your Savior, and have not remembered the Lord, your helper.
This site's exposition
men will look to their Maker
on Isaiah 17:7-9
The judgment turns the survivors' eyes "to the Holy One of Israel," the title Isaiah carries through the whole book. They will no longer look to the altars, Asherahs and incense altars their own hands made. Verse 9 leaves their strong cities "like forsaken thickets and summits."
This site's exposition
In that day their strong cities
Wesley and Henry read the abandoned cities as those the Canaanites left when Israel came in under Joshua. Israel now flees before Assyria. Clarke follows the Septuagint, which names the Hivites and the Amorites here.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 9) On that day, her fortified cities will be abandoned like plowed fields and empty after the harvest. They will become a wasteland, just like the cities of the Israelites that were abandoned before them. This prophecy is not against Damascus, but against the ten tribes known as Israel. Just as when the people of God arrived from Egypt, all the nations living in the promised land were suddenly filled with fear and dropped their plows and left their crops and unfinished tasks, fleeing for safety on foot, so too shall the land of Israel remain deserted for a long time. I am amazed that Aquila interpreted 'pro aratris et acervis frugum' as 'testam et Emir'; Symmachus, 'silvam et Amir'; LXX, 'Amorrhaeos et Evaeos'. Only Theodotio put the Hebrew word, 'Ars Et Emir', which is more correctly read as 'Hores () Et Amir ()', that is, plows and heaps of grain.
The Medieval Church1 voice
In that day. Here he threatens the desolation of their cities, and first, he threatens the desolation itself: as the ploughs. This touches on what is found in Joshua 6 and 7, how the Amorrhites fled at the coming of the sons of Israel, leaving …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Left - Which they (the Canaanites) left or forsook because of (or for fear of) the children of Israel. And this was a fit example, to awaken the Israelites to a serious belief of this threatening, because God had inflicted the same judgment upon the Canaanites, for the same sins of which they were guilty.
As the Canaanites then fled before Israel, so Israel should now flee before the Assyrians. And herein the word of God was fulfilled, that, if they committed the same abominations, the land should spue them out, as it spued out the nations that were before them ( Lev. xviii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
In the midst of judgment mercy is remembered to Israel, and a gracious promise made that a remnant should be preserved from the calamities and should get good by them,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
His strong cities - The cities of the united kingdoms of Damascus and Samaria. Be as a forsaken bough - There has been much difficulty in the interpretation of this passage. Lowth says, ‘No one has ever been able to make any tolerable sense of these words;’ and proposes himself the translation, In that day shall his strongly fenced cities become Like the desertion of the Hivites and the Amorites; Following in this the translation of the Septuagint, but doing violence to the Hebrew text.
As a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch “the Hivites and the Amorites” - החרש והאמיר hachoresh vehaamir. No one has ever yet been able to make any tolerable sense of these words. The translation of the Septuagint has happily preserved what seems to be the true reading of the text, as it stood in the copies of their time; though the words are now transposed, either in the text or in their Version; οἱ Αμαρῥαιοι και οἱ Ευαιοι, “the Amorites and the Hivites.” It is remarkable that many commentators, who never thought of admitting the reading of the Septuagint, understand the passage as referring to that very event which their Version expresses; so that it is plain that nothing can be more suitable to the context. “My father,” says Bishop Lowth, “saw the necessity of admitting this variation at a time when it was not usual to make so free with the Hebrew text.” Mr. Parkhurst is not satisfied with the prelate’s adoption of the reading of the Septuagint, “the Hivites and the Amorites.” He thinks the difficult words should be thus rendered; he takes the whole verse: “And his fortified cities shall be like the leaving, or what is left כעזובת caazubath, of or in a ploughed field, החרש hachoresh, or on a branch which they leave coram, before, the children of Israel.” Which he considers a plain reference to the Mosaic laws relative to the not gleaning of their ploughed fields, vineyards, and oliveyards, but leaving עזב ozeb, somewhat of the fruits, for the poor of the land; Lev 9:9, Lev 9:10; Deu 24:19-21, in the Hebrew. I fear that the text is taken by storm on both interpretations. One MS. has כל ערי col arey, “all the cities;” and instead of החלש hachalash, “of the branch,” six MSS. have החדש hachodesh, “of the month.” But this is probably a mistake.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
because I planted you Because, when I planted you in the beginning, I planted a pleasant planting, twelve sons of Jacob, and when your saplings raised branches, they gave forth improper seed, like strange branches which are not of the species of the vine but resemble the vine.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּיּ֨וֹם | baiyom | in the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַה֜וּא | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| יִהְי֣וּ׀ | yihyu | they will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| עָרֵ֣י | ʾarei | [the] cities of | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| מָעֻזּ֗וֹ | mauzo | refuge his | H4581 → | 36 times |
| כַּעֲזוּבַ֤ת | kaazuvat | like [the] forsaken [place] of | H5800 → | 215 times |
| הַחֹ֙רֶשׁ֙ | hachoresh | the forest | H2793 → | |
| וְהָ֣אָמִ֔יר | vehaamir | and the tree-top | H534 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָזְב֔וּ | ʾazevu | they abandoned | H5800 → | 215 times |
| מִפְּנֵ֖י | mipenei | <from> because of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וְהָיְתָ֖ה | vehayetah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| שְׁמָמָֽה׃ | shemamah | a desolation | H8077 → | 57 times |
בַּיּ֨וֹםin the day
baiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַה֜וּא<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
יִהְי֣וּ׀they will be
yihyuH1961 →3559 times
עָרֵ֣י[the] cities of
ʾareiH5892 →1090 times
מָעֻזּ֗וֹrefuge his
mauzoH4581 →36 times
כַּעֲזוּבַ֤תlike [the] forsaken [place] of
kaazuvatH5800 →215 times
הַחֹ֙רֶשׁ֙the forest
hachoreshH2793 →
וְהָ֣אָמִ֔ירand the tree-top
vehaamirH534 →
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עָזְב֔וּthey abandoned
ʾazevuH5800 →215 times
מִפְּנֵ֖י<from> because of
mipeneiH6440 →2123 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וְהָיְתָ֖הand it will be
vehayetahH1961 →3559 times
שְׁמָמָֽה׃a desolation
shemamahH8077 →57 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Micah 6:16You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:51
“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; disgrace has covered our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD’s house.”
- Psalms 44:13
You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
- Isaiah 25:8
He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the LORD has spoken.
- Jeremiah 7:24
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
- 1 Kings 16:25–33
But Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD and acted more wickedly than all who were before him.
- Jeremiah 51:51
Through
Isaiah 27:10For the fortified city lies deserted—a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
it leads to
- Isaiah 17:2
The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear.
- Isaiah 32:13–14
and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.
- Micah 3:12
Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
- Isaiah 17:2
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.