Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 24:10

"The waste city is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in." — Isaiah 24:10 (ASV)

The city of confusion - There can be no doubt that Jerusalem is intended here. The name ‘city of confusion’ is probably given to it in anticipation of what it would be; that is, as it appeared in prophetic vision to Isaiah (see the note at Isaiah 1:1). He gave it a name that would describe its state when these calamities would come upon it.

The word rendered ‘confusion’ (תהו tôhû) does not denote disorder or anarchy, but is a word expressive of emptiness, vanity, destitution of form, waste. It occurs in Genesis 1:2: And the earth was without form. In Job 26:7, it is rendered the empty place; in 1 Samuel 12:21 and Isaiah 45:18-19, in vain; and usually ‘emptiness,’ ‘vanity,’ ‘confusion’ (Isaiah 40:17; Isaiah 41:29). In Job 12:24 and Psalms 107:40, it denotes a wilderness. Here it means that the city would be desolate, empty, and depopulated.

Is broken down - Its walls and dwellings are in ruins.

Every house is shut up - That is, either because every man, fearful of danger, would fasten his doors so that enemies could not enter; or more probably, the entrance to every house would be so obstructed by ruins as to render it impossible to enter.