The Hebrew particle ki rendered For is probably an emphatic marker here, so a better rendering is “Indeed.” It begins a new subunit that continues the agricultural imagery but speaks of desolation. Most versions do not translate it.

The fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken: The fortified city could be Jerusalem or Samaria, but it probably refers to all the fortified cities in Israel (see 25.2, where it has a similar meaning). There is desolation throughout the country. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “fortified cities,” and Contemporary English Version has “Fortress cities.” The adjective solitary means that these cities stand alone, isolated and abandoned. A habitation deserted and forsaken emphasizes the desolation further. No one lives there any longer. This is what happened when the people were taken into exile.

The prophet also says the land is like the wilderness. For the Hebrew word rendered wilderness, see the comments on 14.17, where it is translated “desert.” It refers to a marginal area, largely uninhabited, but where animals may find pasture.

There the calf grazes, there he lies down, and strips its branches: The two occurrences of the adverb There refer to the wilderness, not the deserted cities. These lines expand the illustration of the wilderness. The Hebrew noun for calf is singular but it has a collective sense here, so it may be rendered as a plural. In this context calf refers to any domestic animals that graze, so Good News Translation says “cattle.” There the calf grazes means these animals use the wilderness as pastureland. They also strip its branches. Wilderness areas generally have short shrub-like vegetation and small trees. The animals often break off the young branches and eat the leaves of the shrubs and trees. So the pronoun its refers to the wilderness. Some translators may need to make this clear.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• The fortified cities stand alone,
their inhabitants have deserted and abandoned them;
these cities are like the wilderness where animals find pasture,
where they rest and strip branches bare.

• Indeed, fortress towns stand alone,
without inhabitants they are deserted, abandoned;
they are like the wilderness where cattle seek pasture and rest
and where they devour its shrubs.

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 .