Verse Lens · Context pointer
Isaiah 63:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
The prayer or lamenting voice states or reports “The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while” at Isaiah 63:18 as a specific part of “The Community Pleads for the Hidden Father to Rend the Heavens.”
Read It With
- Isaiah 63:15–64:4
Read Isaiah 63:18 with 63:15–64:4. By itself, “The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, historical horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Zion appeals beyond unrecognizing ancestors to the LORD as father and redeemer, asks why hearts harden, laments brief sanctuary possession, and longs for a creation-shaking descent.
Why It Needs Context
The prayer or lamenting voice states or reports “The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while” at Isaiah 63:18 as a specific part of “The Community Pleads for the Hidden Father to Rend the Heavens.” Because nearby lines develop or qualify it, Isaiah 63:15–64:4 supplies the minimum responsible context.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Isaiah 63:15–64:4 — The Community Pleads for the Hidden Father to Rend the HeavensSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 63:15–64:4, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 63:15–64:4 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗