Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. your walls are continually before me.
- BSB Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever 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 2:23In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Isa 62:6I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,
- Isa 60:18Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
- Song 8:6Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
- Exod 13:9And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.
- Isa 26:1In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
- Isa 54:12And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
- Ps 48:12–13Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
- Jer 22:24As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
- Rev 21:10–21And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending 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.