The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude.
- BSB The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
- 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 he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
- Deut 10:22Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
- Gen 22:17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
- Exod 32:13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
- Deut 28:62And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
- Gen 28:14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
- Num 1:46Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
- Exod 12:37And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.
- Neh 9:23Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
- 1 Chr 27:23But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens.
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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.