Isaiah 63 · Verse 18

Isaiah 63:18

The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
Isaiah 63:18, King James Version

Isaiah 63:18 in other translations

BSBFor a short while Your people possessed Your holy place, but our enemies have trampled Your sanctuary.
WEBYour holy people possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.
ASVThy holy people possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
YLTFor a little while did Thy holy people possess, Our adversaries have trodden down Thy sanctuary.
DARBYThy holy people have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
BBEWhy have evil men gone over your holy place, so that it has been crushed under the feet of our haters?
WebsterThe people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

What does Isaiah 63:18 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
18. people of ... holiness--Israel dedicated as holy unto God (Is 62:12; De 7:6). possessed--namely, the Holy Land, or Thy "sanctuary," taken from the following clause, which is parallel to this (compare Is 64:10, 11; Psa 74:6-8). thy--an argument why God should help them; their cause is His cause.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 18 The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while "It is little that they have taken possession of thy holy mountain" - The difficulty of the construction in this place is acknowledged on all hands. Vitringa prefers that sense as the least exceptionable which our translation has expressed; in which however there seems to be a great defect; that is, the want of that in the speaker's view must have been the principal part of the proposition, the object of the verb, the land, or it, as our translators supply it, which surely ought to have been expressed, and not to have been left to be supplied by the reader. In a word, I believe there is some mistake in the text; and here the Septuagint help us out; they had in their copy הר har, mountain, instead of עם am, people, του ορους του ἁγιου σου, the mountain of thy Holy One. "Not only have our enemies taken possession of Mount Sion, and trodden down thy sanctuary; even far worse than this has befallen us; thou hast long since utterly cast us off, and dost not consider us as thy peculiar people." - L.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 63:15-19

They beseech him to look down on the abject condition of their once-favoured nation. Would it not be glorious to his name to remove the veil from their hearts, to return to the tribes of his inheritance? The Babylonish captivity, and the after-deliverance of the Jews, were shadows of the events here foretold. The Lord looks down upon us in tenderness and mercy. Spiritual judgments are more to be dreaded than any…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 63:15-19 →

Isaiah 63:18 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

לַמִּצְעָ֕רla.mitz.'Arfor <the> little whileH4705
יָרְשׁ֖וּya.re.Shuthey possessedH3423
עַם\־'am-[the] people ofH5971
קָדְשֶׁ֑ךָkod.She.chaholiness yourH6944
צָרֵ֕ינוּtza.Rei.nuopponents ourH6862
בּוֹסְס֖וּbo.Suthey have trodden downH947
מִקְדָּשֶֽׁךָ\׃mik.da.She.chasanctuary yourH4720

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 63:18

  • Psalms 74:3-7

    Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. …

  • Daniel 8:24

    And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

  • Exodus 19:4-6

    Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

  • Matthew 24:2

    And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

  • Isaiah 64:11-12

    Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

  • Revelation 11:2

    But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

  • Deuteronomy 26:19

    And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.

  • Lamentations 1:10

    The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.

  • 1 Peter 2:9

    But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

  • Isaiah 62:12

    And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

  • Deuteronomy 7:6

    For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

  • Lamentations 4:1

    How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
people.
62:12; Ex 19:4-6; De 7:6; 26:19; Da 8:24; 1Pe 2:9
our.
64:11,12; Ps 74:3-7; La 1:10; 4:1; Mt 24:2; Re 11:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 63:17

    O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

  • Isaiah 63:18

    The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

  • Isaiah 63:19

    We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.

Read all of Isaiah 63

Isaiah 63:18 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Por poco tiempo lo poseyó el pueblo de tu santidad: nuestros enemigos han hollado tu santuario.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Ton peuple saint ne l’a possédé que pour peu de temps; nos ennemis ont foulé aux pieds ton sanctuaire.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Auf eine kleine Zeit hat dein heiliges Volk es besessen: Unsere Widersacher haben dein Heiligtum zertreten.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quasi nihilum possederunt populum sanctum tuum: hostes nostri conculcaverunt sanctificationem tuam.