For the palace has been neglected, the populated city abandoned. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
Parallel translations
- WEB For the palace will be forsaken. The populous city will be deserted. The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
- KJV 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;
- BSB 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—
- NKJV Because the palaces will be forsaken, The bustling city will be deserted. The forts and towers will become lairs forever, A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks—
- NLT The palace and the city will be deserted, and busy towns will be empty. Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze in the empty forts and watchtowers
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Palace and city will be abandoned, becoming a haunt for wild donkeys and flocks. It matters because judgment will strip away human grandeur and leave desolation.
Overview
Isaiah describes the forsaken palace and emptied city given over to wild animals. Centers of power and population become wilderness. This stark desolation marks the seriousness of God's judgment, while the word 'until' in the next verse signals that this ruin is not the final state.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 25:2For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built.
- Isa 24:10The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
- Isa 24:12The city is left in desolation, and the gate is struck with destruction.
- Isa 27:10For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.
- 2 Kgs 25:9He burned Yahweh’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.
- Isa 13:19–22Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Luke 21:24They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- Isa 6:11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,
- Isa 34:11–17But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it. The owl and the raven will dwell in it. He will stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.
- Isa 5:9In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
- Isa 24:1–3Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.
- Ps 104:11They give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
- Luke 21:20“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand.
- Rev 18:2–3He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 32:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.