Thy holy cities are a wilderness
Meaning either Zion, the city of David, and Jerusalem; the one called the upper, the other the lower city; now uninhabited, and a mere wilderness: or else the other cities of Judea, in which were formerly synagogues for religious service, and in which dwelt many godly families where the worship of God was kept up; but now a desert, at least quite devoid of true religion and godliness. Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation;
which are either explanative of the holy cities in the preceding clauses, or are mentioned as distinct from them; the account proceeding from the lesser to the metropolitan cities, which fared no better than they did, but equally lay desolate; and which fulfilled the prophecy in ( Micah 3:12 ) and was the case of those cities, at the destruction of them by Titus; and to this day are in a ruinous condition in the hands of the Turks.