Against every high tower, and against every fortified wall: In the previous verse the prophet took metaphors for pride from nature, but now he takes them from human society. Tower and wall were part of the defenses of ancient towns. People felt secure when they were locked in a tower or were behind a town’s defensive walls. A town’s surrounding wall was very thick and also fortified. It is a figure for both height and strength. The Hebrew word for wall is different from the word used for the walls of a house, but this distinction may be difficult to make in many languages. Fortified wall may be rendered “fortified/strong wall around a city.” Tower refers to a specially fortified tall building, either as a separate building within the town walls or as part of the wall itself. It was the last place to which the citizens could retreat to avoid capture by the enemy (Jdg 9.46-47). If the receptor language does not have a word for tower, the translator may use a descriptive phrase such as “tall/strong house” and explain it in a footnote. Good News Translation joins this verse to the previous verse by allowing the verb “level” to apply here also. Other possibilities are “break / tear down / destroy.” A translation example for this verse that continues from the previous verse is:

• as if he were bringing down [or, destroying]
towers [or, strong, tall houses] and the walls of a town.

Another possible model is:

• It [Yahweh’s time of judgment] will be against all who are like high towers or strong walls around a town.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .