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Isaiah 17:9
ESV In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
NIV In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.
NASB On that day their strong cities will be like abandoned places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And the land will be a desolation.
CSB On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned woods and mountaintops that were abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.
NLT Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest, like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned when the Israelites came here so long ago. It will be utterly desolate.
KJV In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
NKJV In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough And an uppermost branch, Which they left because of the children of Israel; And there will be desolation.

What does Isaiah 17:9 mean?

This seems to compare the deserted cities of Israel in Isaiah's time with the abandoned heights in the land during the time of Joshua and the Judges. The strong cities of Israel will be desolate following the Assyrian destruction of the land. Those not slaughtered by the Assyrians will eventually be deported out of the land to keep them from revolting against their oppressors. The survivors that remain will be so few that entire cities will become ghost towns. The arrival of the Israelites in the Promised Land, and their defeat of so many Canaanite peoples, caused the Canaanite worship centers on hilltops and high places to be abandoned. Nobody was left to worship the Canaanite gods there.

Sadly, Israel was eventually drawn into the worship of those same Canaanite gods. Even though the Lord had given them victory in the land they were still drawn to the desire for more (Judges 2:16–19). Now the Lord's destruction had come on His own people—to shake them loose of their dependence on worthless gods. He would remind and return them to dependence on Him.
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