Bible Strands
Isaiah 49:16
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel immediately after contrasting His remembrance with a mother's natural compassion, and directly before declaring the return of the city's builders and the departure of its destroyers.
The words — The text highlights חַקֹּתִי (cha.koti, "I have inscribed") on כַּפַּיִם (ka.paim, "palms of hands") and תָּמִיד (ta.mid, "continually") with חוֹמֹתַיִךְ (cho.mota.yikh, "your walls") נֶגְדִּי (negdi, "before Me").
The thread — This imagery of permanent divine attention to the city's boundaries recurs in Isaiah 60:18 regarding the absence of ruin, and Isaiah 62:6 regarding watchmen posted on the walls who never fall silent.
Why it lands — The text asserts that God's awareness of His people and their restored state is fixed and unceasing, requiring the reader to recognize that divine preservation operates independently of human memory or effort.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Cross-references
- Haggai 2:23 On 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.”
- Isaiah 60:18 No 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.
- 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,
- 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.
- Exodus 13:9 It 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.
- Isaiah 26:1 In 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.
- Psalms 48:12 March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,
- Isaiah 54:12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
- 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.
- Revelation 21:10 And 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,