Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Isaiah 17:11

11. In the day ... thy plant--rather, "In the day of thy planting" [Horsley].

shalt ... make ... grow--Maurer translates, "Thou didst fence it," namely, the pleasure-ground. The parallel clause, "Make ... flourish," favors English Version. As soon as thou plantest, it grows.

in the morning--that is, immediately after; so in Psa 90:14, the Hebrew, "in the morning," is translated "early."

but ... shall be a heap--rather, "but (promising as was the prospect) the harvest is gone" [Horsley].

in ... day of grief--rather, "in the day of (expected) possession" [Maurer]. "In the day of inundation" [Horsley].

of desperate sorrow--rather, "And the sorrow shall be desperate or irremediable." In English Version "heap" and "sorrow" may be taken together by hendiadys. "The heap of the harvest shall be desperate sorrow" [Rosenmuller].

Is 17:12-18:7. Sudden Destruction of a Great Army in Judea (namely that of the Assyrian Sennacherib), AND Announcement of the Event to the Ethiopian Ambassadors.

The connection of this fragment with what precedes is: notwithstanding the calamities coming on Israel, the people of God shall not be utterly destroyed (Is 6:12, 13); the Assyrian spoilers shall perish (Is 17:13, 14).