John Calvin 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)

For the palace shall be forsaken. Here he also describes more fully the desolation of the country. For, having mentioned magnificent houses in the previous verse, he now also adds palaces and cities, to show that there is nothing, however splendid and illustrious, that is exempt from that calamity.

We see that people are dazzled by their own splendor until they lift up their eyes to heaven. The consequence is that they are soothed to sleep in the midst of their wealth and dread nothing. He therefore declares that all that was splendid, magnificent, and lofty in Judea—cities, palaces, bulwarks, fortresses—all will be brought to nothing.

When he says for ever, he again gives warning, as he did previously, that this calamity will not last for only a single day; but that, as they had long been hardened in their vices, so it will be of long duration. For if they had been punished for only a short time, being obstinate and intractable, they would quickly have relapsed into their natural disposition.