Isaiah 49:16
New International Version
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever 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.

English Standard Version
Behold, I have engraved 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.

King James Bible
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

New King James Version
See, I have inscribed 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.

NASB 1995
“Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

NASB 1977
“Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

Amplified Bible
“Indeed, I have inscribed [a picture of] you on the palms of My hands; Your city walls [Zion] are continually before Me.

Christian Standard Bible
Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.

American Standard Version
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Behold, on the palms of my hands I have engraved you, and your walls are constantly next to me

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Behold, I have painted thy walls on my hands, and thou art continually before me.

Contemporary English Version
A picture of your city is drawn on my hand. You are always in my thoughts!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes.

English Revised Version
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are always in my presence.

Good News Translation
Jerusalem, I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

International Standard Version
Look! I've inscribed you on the palms of my hands, and your walls are forever before me.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; Thy walls are continually before Me.

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

Majority Standard Bible
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

New American Bible
See, upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you; your walls are ever before me.

NET Bible
Look, I have inscribed your name on my palms; your walls are constantly before me.

New Revised Standard Version
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

New Heart English Bible
Look, I have inscribed 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.

World English Bible
Behold, I have engraved 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.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
You are My Servant
15“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you! 16Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me. 17Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.…

Cross References
Psalm 48:12
March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,

Psalm 48:13
consider her ramparts, tour her citadels, that you may tell the next generation.

Song of Solomon 8:6
Set 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.

Isaiah 62:6
On 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,

Isaiah 62:7
nor give Him any rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.

Jeremiah 17:1
"The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, engraved with a diamond point on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.

Jeremiah 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.


Treasury of Scripture

Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

I have

Exodus 13:9
And 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.

Song of Solomon 8:6
Set 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.

Jeremiah 22:24
As 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;

thy walls

Isaiah 26:1
In 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.

Isaiah 54:12
And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.

Isaiah 60:18
Violence 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.

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Continually Engraved Graven Hand Hands Inscribed Marked Palms Walls
Isaiah 49
1. Christ being sent to the Jews, complains of them
5. He is sent to the Gentiles with gracious promises
13. God's love is perpetual to his church
18. The ample restoration of the church
24. The powerful deliverance out of captivity














(16) Behold, I have graven thee . . .--The words point to the almost universal practice of tattooing. A man thus "engraved" the name of his god, or the outlines of his home, or the face of her he loved, upon his hands or arms. So, by a boldly anthropomorphic figure, Jehovah had "graven" Jerusalem on His hands. He could not open them, i.e., could not act, without being reminded of her. The "walls" may be either those of the earthly city lying in ruins, or those of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Verse 16. - Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. The prophet has passed here from the living Zion, Isabel, to their material home, Jerusalem. The metaphor which he uses is no doubt drawn from the practice, common both in ancient and in modern days, of burning or puncturing figures and other mementos upon the hand, the arm, or some other part of the body, and then rendering the figures indelible by rubbing in henna, indigo, gunpowder, or some other coloured substance. Pilgrims in the East have almost always such marks put upon them when they have accomplished their pilgrimage. English sailors are fond of them, and few are without some such mark on their breast or limbs. The meaning here is that God has the thought of Zion as constantly present with him as if her image were indelibly marked on the palms of his hands. (On the anthropomorphic representation of God as having "arms" and "hands," see the comment on Isaiah 40:10.) Thy walls. It is the city, Zion, the emblem of the people, that can alone be "graven" or "portrayed." This city has, of course, walls. God bears them in mind perpetually, since he is about to cause them to be built up (Nehemiah 3, 4.).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Behold,
הֵ֥ן (hên)
Interjection
Strong's 2005: Lo! behold!

I have inscribed you
חַקֹּתִ֑יךְ (ḥaq·qō·ṯîḵ)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular | second person feminine singular
Strong's 2710: To hack, engrave, to enact, prescribe

on
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the palms of My hands;
כַּפַּ֖יִם (kap·pa·yim)
Noun - fd
Strong's 3709: Hollow or flat of the hand, palm, sole (of the foot), a pan

your walls
חוֹמֹתַ֥יִךְ (ḥō·w·mō·ṯa·yiḵ)
Noun - feminine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 2346: A wall of protection

are ever
תָּמִֽיד׃ (tā·mîḏ)
Adverb
Strong's 8548: Continuance, constant, ellipt, the regular, sacrifice

before Me.
נֶגְדִּ֖י (neḡ·dî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 5048: A front, part opposite, a counterpart, mate, over against, before


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 49:16 Behold I have engraved you (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 49:15
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