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
13 notes on this verse"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
Your holy cities have become a wilderness
on Isaiah 64:10-12
The prayer names the ruin, the holy cities a wilderness and Jerusalem “a desolation”. Verse 11 grieves the temple, “Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire”. The chapter ends by asking whether God will “keep silent and afflict us beyond measure”.
This site's exposition
Our holy and beautiful temple
Barnes calls the temple holy for its dedication to God, and he says the Hebrew behind beautiful means glorious. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read the temple burned with fire under Nebuchadnezzar as a figure of its burning under Titus. Jerome adds that sacrifice and Passover ceased in the ruins.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
The defendants speak of the damage in the soul and that they have been caught in their sins; they are like leaves blown about by every wind and, scattered all over, now remember the external misfortunes that came on them. And the destruction of Jerusalem is deplored along with the temple's burning. For after the Savior's crucifixion, these things were fulfilled.
(Verse 8 and following) And now, Lord, you are our father, and we are clay; you are our potter, and all our works are the work of your hands. Do not be exceedingly angry, Lord, and do not remember our iniquity any longer. Look, your people are all of us. The city of your holy ones has become a desert; Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem is desolate. Our house of sanctification and glory, where our fathers praised you, has become a burning ruin, and all our desirable things have turned to ruins.
Moreover, your house, that is, the sanctuary of our sanctification and glory, in which our fathers praised you, has fallen into ruins and ashes, and has been destroyed by a raging fire, so that no victims are offered in it, no Passover is celebrated, nothing is done of the ceremonies that you commanded to be done, but all our desires have been turned into ruins. ...
But if, by our fault or the fault of the people, such a Zion is abandoned by the Lord, immediately the fire of ignited devilish arrows will become evident: for all who commit adultery are like a burning oven in their hearts. And with the coldness of chastity expelled, the flame of lust will rage in the temple of God, so that whatever was glorious and renowned in us before will fall, be destroyed, and perish. And let that which is said in the Psalms be fulfilled: They have burned your sanctuary with fire, they have profaned the tabernacle of your name on earth. Which only He can extinguish, from whose belly flow the rivers of living water.
If we who bear the name of "your people," he says, are unworthy of your goodwill, judge the city worthy to be spared by reason of its founder, for it has become a desert. And he makes mention of his name [David] in order to …
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
(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!
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Our holy and our beautiful house,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
house--the temple. beautiful--includes the idea of glorious (Mr 13:1; Ac 3:2). burned-- (Ps 74:7; Its destruction under Nebuchadnezzar prefigured that under Titus. pleasant things--Hebrew, "objects of desire"; our homes, our city, and all its dear associations.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
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
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About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
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); Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 5:6.64:10-12; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 20:64.9-10 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.