Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. your walls are continually before me.
- KJV Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
- NKJV See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
- NASB “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
- NLT See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God says He has engraved Zion on the palms of His hands, her walls ever before Him, a permanent pledge of remembrance.
Overview
Far from forgetting (v.14-15), God keeps Zion engraved on His hands, a vivid image of constant, costly remembrance. The ruined walls He longs to restore are continually in His sight. Christians often see a foreshadowing here of Christ, whose hands bear the marks of the cross by which His people are forever remembered and saved.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Hag 2:23On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts.”
- Isa 62:6On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves,
- Isa 60:18No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders. But you will name your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
- Song 8:6Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
- Exod 13:9It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
- Isa 26:1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation is established as its walls and ramparts.
- Isa 54:12I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
- Ps 48:12–13March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,
- Jer 22:24“As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.
- Rev 21:10–21And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 49:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.