Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

According to my understanding of normal Roman crucifixion practices, the nails were not driven through the palms of the hands, which (as noted in the question) would have caused the breaking of bones, and thus would also have been in contradiction of prophecy in Jesus' case.

Instead, there is a hollow spot in the skeletal structure on the wrist (just below the point where the so-called "life line" of the hand ends), where a nail could be driven without breaking a bone, and which also provides sufficient support to bear the weight of the individual. (By my understanding, this area was included in the meaning of the Greek word for "hand", since there was no specific separate Greek word for "wrist".)

(For example, in Acts 12:7, when Peter was miraculously freed from prison, the same Greek word is used in connection with the location of chains that he was wearing, which would have been around his wrists, rather than on his hands, and multiple English translations of the verse thus use the word "wrists" rather than "hands".)

February 08 2021 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

jackie pippin Supporter Wife of one. Mother of two. Grandmother of four.

If I haven't forgotten the Hebrew word for hand did not only include what we mean by hand. Another word for hand was yad which was also a word for power. But, the Hebrew words "amah" and "yad "both both represented the wrist or fingertip to the elbow. Amah was derived from the word we know as cubit, which was the measure from the tip of the fingers to the elbow. 

In Aramaic, the word ammah (similar to the Hebrew word) represented the length from the tips of the fingers to the elbow. Romans nailed criminals at the wrist so the nails would not tear through the palms. So when Scripture tells us nails were driven through Jesus' palms, they were not lying to us. In actuality, they could have been driven anywhere from the fingers to the elbow. But that is not what the Romans did. They used the wrists.

I read this post again, and had to laugh at myself! Talk about not leading with the lead! The Jews spoke Aramaic and understood Hebrew. But, as you know, the New Testament was written in Koine. That is where I should have started. My Greek is rusty so I looked it up. And, you guessed it! The Koine word for the fingertips past the wrist is cheir. As Tim wrote in his post, there is no separate word for wrist. Cheir was used for the fingertips to the elbow. Both hand, wrist, and forearm. And it was this word that all four gospel writers used for where the nails were put into Jesus. Ancient anatomical precision was not what it is today!

May 12 2026 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report