Bible Strands
Isaiah 32:14
For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become caves forever—the delight of wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks—
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah pronounces judgment on Judah’s ruling class, declaring that Jerusalem’s administrative center and fortified districts will be completely deserted.
The words — The Hebrew אַרְמוֹן ('armon) specifies the royal palace, while נֻטַּשׁ (nutash) and עֻזַּב ('uzzav) both mean it will be left forsaken and abandoned.
The thread — The text’s description of ruined fortifications aligns with Isaiah 24:10, Isaiah 24:12, and Isaiah 25:2, where cities and gates are reduced to permanent rubble.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to acknowledge that human defenses and political centers are temporary, pointing directly to the need for the Spirit’s outpouring described in Isaiah 32:15.
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
Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
Cross-references
- Isaiah 24:10 The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.
- Isaiah 24:12 The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.
- Isaiah 25:2 Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
- Isaiah 27:10 For 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.
- 2 Kings 25:9 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
- Psalms 104:11 They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
- Isaiah 5:9 I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.
- Isaiah 6:11 Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Isaiah 13:19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 24:1 Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—