Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 32:14

"For the palace shall be forsaken; the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watch-tower shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;" — Isaiah 32:14 (ASV)

Because the palaces shall be forsaken - That is, the palaces in the cities and towns that Sennacherib would lay waste. Or, if it refers, as Lowth supposes, to the invasion of the land in the time of the Chaldeans, then it relates to the palaces in Jerusalem. Vitringa supposes that the temple at Jerusalem is particularly designated by the word rendered palaces. But that is not the usual word to denote the temple, and it is not necessary to suppose that it is particularly referred to. The word ארמון 'armôn usually denotes a palace, or royal residence in some part of the royal citadel (see 1 Kings 16:18; Isaiah 25:2; Jeremiah 30:18; Amos 1:4, 1:7, 1:10, 1:12).

The forts - Margin, ‘Cliffs and watch-towers.’ Hebrew, עפל ‛opel. This word properly denotes a hill or a cliff, which is an advantageous situation for fortresses. It is translated in Micah 4:8, ‘the stronghold;’ in 2 Kings 5:24, ‘the tower;’ in 2 Chronicles 27:3; 2 Chronicles 30:14; Nehemiah 3:27; and Nehemiah 11:21, ‘Ophel.’

With the article (the hill), it was given, prominently, to a bluff or hill lying northeast of Mount Zion and south of Mount Moriah, which was surrounded and fortified with a wall (Josephus, Jewish Wars, 6.6). This fortified hill extends south from Mount Moriah, running down to the fountain of Siloam, and is situated between the valley of Jehoshaphat on the east and the Tyropeon, or valley of Cheesemongers, on the west. It terminates over the pool of Siloam in a steep point of rock forty or fifty feet high. The top of the ridge is flat, and the ground is now tilled and planted with olive and other fruit trees (see Robinson’s Biblical Researches, vol. 1, pp. 341, 394).

It may be used here, however, to denote a hill or cliff, a strongly-fortified place in general, without necessarily supposing that it refers to the mountain in Jerusalem.

Towers - Towers were erected on the walls of cities at convenient distances for purposes of observation.

Shall be for dens - Will become places where bandits and robbers can take shelter and secure themselves.

Forever - This is evidently one instance in which the word ‘forever’ (עד־עולם ‛ad - ‛ôlâm) denotes a long time, because in Scripture, when the word is used without any such limitation, it denotes true eternity.

A joy of wild asses - A place where wild animals will have unlimited range.