The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude.
- KJV The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
- NKJV The Lord your God has multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude.
- NASB The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.
- NLT The Lord your God has increased your population, making you as numerous as the stars!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God had multiplied Israel until they were as numerous as the stars. This shows God's faithfulness to His promise to Abraham of countless descendants.
Overview
The 'stars of the sky' imagery deliberately echoes God's covenant promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:5), declaring that promise visibly fulfilled. Israel's vast numbers testify to God's reliability across generations. This growth, far from being merely a leadership problem, is presented as evidence of divine blessing, and it anticipates the innumerable multitude of Abraham's spiritual offspring gathered through Christ from every nation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gen 15:5And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
- Deut 10:22Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
- Gen 22:17I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- Exod 32:13Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”
- Deut 28:62You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
- Gen 28:14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
- Num 1:46And all those counted totaled 603,550.
- Exod 12:37The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.
- Neh 9:23You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
- 1 Chr 27:23David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 1:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.