Isaiah 17:9 Meaning: Amorites or Abandoned Harvest?

Three Hebrew words carry the weight here. The first is azab, meaning to leave behind or abandon. It appears twice in this verse, linking the forsaking of the Canaanites with the forsaking of Israel's strongholds. The same root word shows up in verse 2 and in Isaiah 6:12, always with a sense of emptiness. The second word is choresh, translated as 'forest' or 'thicket', a wild, tangled place no one lives in. Paired with it is amir, meaning the top of a tree or a mountain summit. Together they picture places so remote and desolate that no one would build there. The third key word is shemamah, a desolation so complete it leaves the land silent and uninhabited. These words press home one point: the strong cities that Israel trusted would become as empty as the abandoned forests and mountain peaks of the old Canaanites.

Christian readers have understood this verse in two main ways, both rooted in the same difficult Hebrew phrase. Some, following the ancient Greek translation (the Septuagint), read it as a reference to the Amorites and Hivites, the peoples who abandoned their land when Israel entered Canaan. Others see a comparison to the few branches or berries left after a harvest, matching the earlier verses about gleaning. Either reading leads to the same sobering truth: the cities of Israel will be as empty as those formerly abandoned places. The disagreement is about how this is pictured, not what it means.

A common misreading takes the phrase 'which they left because of the children of Israel' and assumes the 'they' refers to the Assyrian army leaving a few cities for Israel's benefit. In fact, the 'they' points back to the Canaanites who fled before the advancing Israelites at the conquest. The reversal is sharp: just as Israel caused the abandonment of Canaanite cities, now Israel's own strong cities will be deserted. It is a judgment that echoes the past, not a provision for the future.

This week, think about the places you run to for safety, a steady job, a good reputation, a comfortable savings account, a close relationship. None of these are wrong, but the prophet warns that when they become your true refuge instead of God, He may let them fail. The invitation is not to live in fear, but to anchor your hope in the One who has never abandoned His people. Let the empty cities of this verse remind you that only the Rock of your strength will stand.