Bible Strands
Isaiah 51:16
I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks directly to Jerusalem (v.17), in the moment of calling her to rise from the judgment she has drunk.
The words — נְטֹעַ (nəṭoʿaʿ, H5193) is rendered "establish" in the BSB but is the same root as "plant" (a vineyard); the Hebrew grounds the claim in an agricultural, not merely architectural, act.
The thread — Isaiah 49:2 uses the identical "shadow of His hand" idiom for the Servant; Isaiah 59:21 repeats "My words that I have [put in your mouth]" as covenant language.
Why it lands — The verse ties the words a believer carries to God's creative authority and protective cover, then lands on a bare covenant claim: "You are My people." It asks the reader to stop treating the words as their own and to stand under the hand that gave them.
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
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 59:21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the LORD.
- Isaiah 49:2 He made My mouth like a sharp sword; He hid Me in the shadow of His hand. He made Me like a polished arrow; He hid Me in His quiver.
- John 17:8 For I have given them the words You gave Me, and they have received them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
- Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
- Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
- Isaiah 66:22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “so your descendants and your name will endure.
- Isaiah 48:13 Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.
- Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
- Zechariah 13:9 This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”
- John 8:38 I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”