Isaiah 64:11
in Isaiah 64Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste.
KJV
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
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This verse in Isaiah 64
Commentary
4 notes on this verseon Isaiah 64:10-11
"The city of your sanctuary" (sancti), that is, the sanctuary of the temple, namely, Jerusalem: "the enemy has put out his hand to all her desirable things" (Lam 1:10).
This site's exposition
Thy holy cities are a wilderness
on Isaiah 64:10-12
The prayer closes by naming the ruin plainly, thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation, the land and the city both named rather than left as generalities. Verse 11 grieves the temple by name, our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste, worship's own house counted among the losses. The chapter's closing lines ask whether the Lord will hold himself back and keep his peace under so much affliction, the same silence named at the prayer's opening now put to God directly and asked how long it will hold. Barnes reads the unanswered question as deliberate, the prayer left open rather than resolved, so that chapter 65's answer from God lands as a reply to a real question.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(2.) It was the place where their fathers praised God with their sacrifices and songs; what a pity is it that that should lie in ashes which had been for so many ages the glory of their nation!
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Our holy and our beautiful house - The temple. It was called ‘holy,’ because it was dedicated to the service of God; and ‘beautiful,’ on account of its extraordinary magnificence. The original word more properly means glorious. Where our fathers praised thee - Few attachments become stronger than that which is formed for a place of worship where our ancestors have long been engaged in the service of God. It was now a great aggravation of their sufferings, that that beautiful place, consecrated by the fact that their forefathers had long there offered praise to God, was lying in ruins.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
will You remain silent and afflict us Will You remain silent concerning what is done to us? Until here is the prophet’s prayer. Its beginning is (supra:7) “The kind acts of the Lord I will mention.”
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The house of our holiness and of our glory, where our fathers worshipped Thee, is burned up with fire: and every place of our desire hath become a waste.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בֵּ֧ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| קָדְשֵׁ֣נוּ | kadeshenu | holiness our | H6944 → | 469 times |
| וְתִפְאַרְתֵּ֗נוּ | vetifartenu | and splendor our | H8597 → | 51 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֤ר | ʾasher | where | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הִֽלְל֙וּךָ֙ | hilukha | they praised you | H1984 → | 165 times |
| אֲבֹתֵ֔ינוּ | ʾavoteinu | ancestors our | H1 → | 1212 times |
| הָיָ֖ה | hayah | it has become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לִשְׂרֵ֣פַת | lisrefat | <into> a burning of | H8316 → | |
| אֵ֑שׁ | ʾesh | fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מַחֲמַדֵּ֖ינוּ | machamadeinu | pleasant things our | H4261 → | |
| הָיָ֥ה | hayah | it has become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לְחָרְבָּֽה׃ | lecharebah | <into> a ruin | H2723 → | 42 times |
בֵּ֧ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
קָדְשֵׁ֣נוּholiness our
kadeshenuH6944 →469 times
וְתִפְאַרְתֵּ֗נוּand splendor our
vetifartenuH8597 →51 times
אֲשֶׁ֤רwhere
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
הִֽלְל֙וּךָ֙they praised you
hilukhaH1984 →165 times
אֲבֹתֵ֔ינוּancestors our
ʾavoteinuH1 →1212 times
הָיָ֖הit has become
hayahH1961 →3559 times
לִשְׂרֵ֣פַת<into> a burning of
lisrefatH8316 →
אֵ֑שׁfire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
מַחֲמַדֵּ֖ינוּpleasant things our
machamadeinuH4261 →
הָיָ֥הit has become
hayahH1961 →3559 times
לְחָרְבָּֽה׃<into> a ruin
lecharebahH2723 →42 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Kings 25:9He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
it leads to
- Psalms 79:1
The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 9:8
And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Amos 2:5
So I will send fire upon Judah to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”
- Psalms 74:3–7
Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
- 2 Chronicles 36:19
Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
- Psalms 79:1
Through
Lamentations 1:7In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old. When her people fell into enemy hands she received no help. Her enemies looked…
it leads to
- Psalms 79:4
We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
- Psalms 77:5–9
I considered the days of old, the years long in the past.
- Deuteronomy 4:34–37
Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the…
- Psalms 79:4
Where this verse is studied
1 study on this verse
Also on Isaiah 64: 1 study that walk through this chapter ▾
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.