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10 
[a]Your holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 
Our holy and beautiful house [the temple built by Solomon],
Where our fathers praised You,
Has been burned by fire;
And all our precious objects are in ruins.
12 
Considering these [tragedies], will You restrain Yourself, O Lord [and not help us]?
Will You keep silent and humiliate and oppress us beyond measure?

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 64:10 After the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in a.d. 70 it became a religious tradition among the rabbis to recite vv 10 and 11 and to rip a tear in their robes whenever they saw the ruins.

10 Your sacred cities(A) have become a wasteland;
    even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.(B)
11 Our holy and glorious temple,(C) where our ancestors praised you,
    has been burned with fire,
    and all that we treasured(D) lies in ruins.
12 After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back?(E)
    Will you keep silent(F) and punish us beyond measure?

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