Lectionary Calendar
Monday, April 28th, 2025
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

Isaiah 49:16

Behold, I have carved you on the palms of the hand, || Your walls [are] continually before Me.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   God;   God Continued...;   Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   Jesus Continued;   Thompson Chain Reference - Memory-Oblivion;   Remembered, Saints;   Remembrance, Divine;   Saints;   The Topic Concordance - Contention;   Enemies;   Forsaking;   Gentiles/heathen;   Israel/jews;   Opposition;   Oppression;   Remembrance;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Arts of the;   Breastplate;   Hands, the;   Jews, the;   Love of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Isaiah;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Fatherhood of God;   New Jerusalem;   Wages;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Church;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Frontlets;   Gospels;   High Priest;   Isaiah;   Ring;   Thieves;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Election;   Isaiah, Book of;   Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Engraving;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Jeremiah;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Isa'iah, Book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Raven;   Hand;   Palm;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Circumcision;   Palm (of the Hand);   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hand;   Obadiah, Book of;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for November 26;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;your walls are continually before me.
Hebrew Names Version
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
King James Version
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
English Standard Version
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
New American Standard Bible
"Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
New Century Version
See, I have written your name on my hand. Jerusalem, I always think about your walls.
Amplified Bible
"Indeed, I have inscribed [a picture of] you on the palms of My hands; Your city walls [Zion] are continually before Me.
World English Bible
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Behold, I haue grauen thee vpon the palme of mine hands: thy walles are euer in my sight.
Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;Your walls are continually before Me.
Berean Standard Bible
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.
Contemporary English Version
A picture of your city is drawn on my hand. You are always in my thoughts!
Complete Jewish Bible
I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, your walls are always before me."
Darby Translation
Lo, I have graven thee upon the palms of [my] hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Easy-to-Read Version
I drew a picture of you on my hand. You are always before my eyes.
George Lamsa Translation
Behold, I have inscribed you upon the palms of my hands; your fortified walls are continually before me.
Good News Translation
Jerusalem, I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
Lexham English Bible
Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
Literal Translation
Behold, I have carved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are always before Me.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, I haue written the vp vpon my hondes, thy walles are euer in my sight.
American Standard Version
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Bible in Basic English
See, your name is marked on my hands; your walls are ever before me.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me.
King James Version (1611)
Behold, I haue grauen thee vpon the palmes of my hands: thy walles are continually before mee.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde, I haue written thee vp vpon my handes, thy walles are euer in my syght.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Behold, I have painted thy walls on my hands, and thou art continually before me.
English Revised Version
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lo! Y haue write thee in myn hondis; thi wallis ben euer bifore myn iyen.
Update Bible Version
Look, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of [my] hands; thy walls [are] continually before me.
New English Translation
Look, I have inscribed your name on my palms; your walls are constantly before me.
New King James Version
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
New Living Translation
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.
New Life Bible
See, I have marked your names on My hands. Your walls are always before Me.
New Revised Standard
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! on the palms of my hands, have portrayed thee, - Thy walls are before me continually.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes.
Revised Standard Version
Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
Young's Literal Translation
Lo, on the palms of the hand I have graven thee, Thy walls [are] before Me continually.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

Contextual Overview

13Sing, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, || And break forth, O mountains, with singing, || For YHWH has comforted His people, || And He pities His afflicted ones. 14And Zion says, "YHWH has forsaken me, || And my Lord has forgotten me." 15"Does a woman forget her suckling, || The loved one—the son of her womb? Indeed, these forget—but I do not forget you. 16Behold, I have carved you on the palms of the hand, || Your walls [are] continually before Me.17Those building you have hurried, || Those destroying you, and laying you waste, go out from you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I have: Exodus 13:9, Song of Solomon 8:6, Jeremiah 22:24, Haggai 2:23

thy walls: Isaiah 26:1, Isaiah 54:12, Isaiah 60:18, Revelation 21:10-21

Reciprocal: Exodus 28:9 - grave Exodus 28:29 - a Isaiah 14:1 - the strangers Isaiah 44:21 - thou shalt

Cross-References

Genesis 30:6
and Rachel says, "God has decided for me, and has also listened to my voice, and gives a son to me"; therefore she has called his name Dan.
Genesis 49:1
And Jacob calls to his sons and says, "Be gathered together, and I declare to you that which happens with you in the latter end of the days.
Genesis 49:2
Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, || And listen to your father Israel.
Genesis 49:24
And his bow abides in strength, || And strengthened are the arms of his hands || By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, || From where is a shepherd, a son of Israel.
Genesis 49:25
By the God of your father who helps you, || And the Mighty One who blesses you, || Blessings of the heavens from above, || Blessings of the deep lying under, || Blessings of breasts and womb—
Genesis 49:26
Your father's blessings have been mighty || Above the blessings of my progenitors, || To the limit of the perpetual heights || They are for the head of Joseph, || And for the crown of the one || Separate [from] his brothers.
Genesis 49:27
Benjamin! A wolf tears; In the morning he eats prey, || And at evening he apportions spoil."
Numbers 10:25
And the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan has journeyed (rearward to all the camps), by their hosts, and over its host [is] Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
Deuteronomy 33:22
And of Dan he said: Dan [is] a lion's whelp; He leaps from Bashan.
Judges 13:2
And there is a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danite, and his name [is] Manoah, his wife [is] barren, and has not borne;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands,.... Not upon his thick clouds, the clouds of heaven under him, always in view, as R. Saadiah Gaon, mentioned by Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi: much better the Targum,

"lo, as upon the hands thou art engraven before me;''

signifying that his people were always in his sight, his eyes were ever upon them, and never withdrawn from them; as anything held in the hand, or tied to or wore upon it, as a signet or ring that has the name of a person on it, to which the allusion may be; which shows how near and dear they are to him, what affection he has for them, and care of them; see Song of Solomon 8:6. Some think respect is had to the wounds in the hands of Christ, which, being on their account, are looked upon and remembered by him; or, however, to their being in his hands, out of which none can pluck them, John 10:28:

thy walls are continually before me; not the walls of Jerusalem to rebuild, though there may be an allusion to them; but either the walls of their houses where they dwell; his delights being in the habitable parts of his earth, where his saints are; or rather the walls of the church of God, for the erecting and establishing of which he is concerned. The metaphor seems to be taken from an architect that has the plan of a building, a house, or a city and its walls, in his hand, or lying before him. The phrase denotes the constant care and concern of Jehovah for the protection and safety of his church and people; who places angels about them, salvation for walls and bulwarks to them, yea, he himself is a wall of fire about them, Isaiah 26:1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands - This is another argument in answer to the complaint of Zion in Isaiah 49:14. There have been various interpretations of this passage. Grotius supposes that it refers to a custom of placing some mark or sign on the hand, or on one of the fingers when they wished to remember anything, and appeals to Exodus 13:9. Lowth supposes that it is an allusion to some practice common among the Jews at that time, of making marks on their hands or arms by means of punctures in the skin with some sign or representation of the city or temple, to show their zeal and affection for it. In illustration of this, he refers to the fact that the pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre are accustomed to get themselves marked in this manner with what are called the signs of Jerusalem. Vitringa supposes that it alludes to the custom of architects, in which they delineate the size, form, and proportions of an edifice on parchment, before they commence building it - such as we mean by the draft or model of the building; and that the sense here is, that God, in like manner, had delineated or drawn Jerusalem on his hands long before it was founded, and had it constantly before his eyes. According to this, the idea is, that God had laid out the plan of Jerusalem long before it was built, and that it was so dear to him that he had even engraven it on his hands. Others have supposed that it refers to a device on a signet, or on a ring worn on the finger or the wrist, and that the plan of Jerusalem was drawn and engraven there. To me, it seems that the view of Lowth is most accordant with probability, and is best, sustained by the Oriental customs. The essential idea is, that Zion was dear to his heart; and that he had sketched or delineated it as an object in which he felt a deep interest - so deep as even to delineate its outlines on the palms of his bands, where it would be constantly before him.

Thy walls - The meaning is, that he constantly looked upon them; that he never forgot them. He had a constant and sacred regard for his people, and amidst all their disasters and trials, still remembered them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 49:16. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands - "Behold, on the palms of my hands have I delineated thee"] This is certainly an allusion to some practice, common among the Jews at that time, of making marks on their hands or arms by punctures on the skin, with some sort of sign or representation of the city or temple, to show their affection and zeal for it. They had a method of making such punctures indelible by fire, or by staining. Isaiah 44:6. It is well known, that the pilgrims at the holy sepulchre get themselves marked in this manner with what are called the ensigns of Jerusalem. See Maundrell, p. 75, where he tells us how it is performed: and this art is practiced by travelling Jews all over the world at this day.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile