Thy holy cities; either Zion and Jerusalem, being the cities they instance in: q.d. Thy holy cities, viz. Zion and Jerusalem: or rather, other cities also in the land of Judea besides those two; called holy, either,
1. Because they were built upon God's inheritance, Isaiah 63:17. Or,
2. Because they were inhabited by the Jews, who were a holy people, Deuteronomy 7:6 Daniel 12:7. Or,
3. Because God had his synagogues in them, Psalms 74:8. For all which reasons also they are called thy cities. A desolation; utterly waste; not only the ordinary cities, but even Jerusalem and Zion themselves; the one called the upper Jerusalem, or the city of David, because it was built upon Mount Zion; the other the lower city, because it lay under the hill of Zion in the valley: he particularizeth Zion and Jerusalem, though he had mentioned the other cities before, because the chiefest of the cities; it being usual, notwithstanding the mentioning of generals, in which all the particulars or individuals are included, to name the particular again; as, and from the hand of Saul, Psalms 18:1.