Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 63:18

"Thy holy people possessed [it] but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary." — Isaiah 63:18 (ASV)

The people of thy holiness ... —Better, For a little while have they possessed thy sanctuary, or, with a various reading, thy holy mountain. The plea is addressed to Jehovah, on the ground of His promise that the inheritance was to be an everlasting one. Compared with that promise, the period of possession, from Joshua and David to the fall of the monarchy, was only a “little while” . The seeming failure of the promise was aggravated by the fact that the enemies of Israel had trodden down the sanctuary.