On that day, the cities of his strength shall be like the abandonment of the forest and the many branched trees which they abandoned from before the children of Israel, and it became a waste.

בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיוּ | עָרֵי מָעוּזּוֹ כַּעֲזוּבַת הַחֹרֶשׁ וְהָאָמִיר אֲשֶׁר עָזְבוּ מִפְּנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהָיְתָה שְׁמָמָה

the cities of his strength: [The antecedent is] Israel.

like the abandonment of the forest and the many branched trees: Forsaken like this forest, desolate without people.

forest: Heb. הַחֹרֶשׁ. This is a forest, as [Onkelos] translates בְחוּרְשָׁא בַיַעַר, in the forest ( Deut. 19:8) .

and the many branched trees: This, too, is a forest, a place of trees. Like the abandoned cities of the Amorites, which they left in desolation in the days of Joshua like the forest and the many branched trees and fled because of the children of Israel, and the land of Israel was desolate.