Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
Parallel translations
- WEB Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and don’t be diminished.
- BSB Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease.
- NKJV Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished.
- NASB Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease.
- NLT Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away!
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 instructs the exiles to marry, have children, and multiply in Babylon. Life and covenant continuity are to go on even in exile.
Overview
By forming families and increasing in number, the exiles would preserve the covenant community through the long captivity. This was an act of hope, trusting that God had a future for His people. It countered despair that might have led them to give up on life and lineage. God's command to flourish in exile reflects His ongoing purpose to bring forth the promised seed, ultimately fulfilled in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Judg 12:9And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.
- Gen 28:1–4And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
- Gen 24:51Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the LORD hath spoken.
- Gen 21:21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
- Gen 29:19And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.
- Gen 24:3–4And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
- 1 Tim 5:14I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
- Jer 16:2–4Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
- 1 Cor 7:36–38But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
- Judg 1:12–14And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
- Judg 14:2And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
- Gen 9:7And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
- Gen 34:4And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.
- Gen 1:27–28So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
- Gen 24:60And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 29:6 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.