“Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your 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.
- KJV Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy 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.
- 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, says Yahweh of Armies, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says Yahweh, ‘and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”
- Isa 62:6I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on Yahweh, take no rest,
- Isa 60:18Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
- Song 8:6Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh.
- Exod 13:9It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that Yahweh’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand Yahweh has 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. God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks.
- Isa 54:12I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
- Ps 48:12–13Walk about Zion, and go around her. Number its towers.
- Jer 22:24“As I live,” says Yahweh, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, yet would I pluck you from there;
- Rev 21:10–21He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, 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.