This verse gives God’s promise to the eunuchs who obey him. In the Temple he will give them a memorial that will last forever, something that is better than having physical descendants.

I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name: The verb give may be rendered “erect” or “set up.” In my house and within my walls can refer to the Temple and its walls, or to the Temple and the city walls of Jerusalem. Translators may choose either sense. New International Version prefers the first one by saying “within my temple and its walls,” and so does Bible en français courant with “on the walls of my temple.” A monument and a name refer to the same thing, so they form a hendiadys. The Hebrew noun for monument is literally “hand” (compare 2 Sam 18.18, where it also has this sense). In Hebrew this word can be used as a euphemism for the male sexual organ. So there may be a clever play-on-words here, since the eunuchs were unable to use this organ. The Hebrew noun for name has the sense of “memorial” or “reputation” here. A monument and a name may refer to an actual monument that will be set up within the Temple compound, or it may be a figurative expression that means the eunuchs will be remembered in the Temple as honored members of God’s people (so Good News Translation).

Better than sons and daughters means the memorial that God gives to the eunuchs will be better than having children that continue their name. Better in this context means it will last longer and be more significant.

I give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off is very similar to the last two lines of 55.13 (see the comments there). The possibility of being cut off from God’s people is used often in Leviticus for people who committed certain abominable acts or broke certain laws (see, for example, Lev 7.20-21, 25, 27; 17.4, 9). It is a metaphor there for excommunication. Here God promises the faithful eunuchs that they will always be part of his people and never be forgotten. Good News Translation renders this line nonfiguratively by saying “You will never be forgotten.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• … I will erect a monument in my Temple and inside the walls
that will be a better memorial than having children.
I will give them a memorial that will last forever
and never be removed.

• … within the walls of my Temple I will set up a monument
that will preserve their name
more than if they were to have sons and daughters.
That memorial will be an eternal one
that will never be removed.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .