Jeremiah 29:6
in Jeremiah 29Take 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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: and multiply ye there, and be not diminished.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Jeremiah 29
Commentary
6 notes on this verseIf the earth be the Lord's, then, wherever a child of God goes, he does not go off his Father's ground. Patria est ubicunque bene est--That place is our country in which we are well off. If things be not as they have been, instead of fretting at that, we must live in hopes that they will be better than they are.
This site's exposition
This is what the LORD of
on Jeremiah 29:4-7
The counsel is to settle, “Build houses and settle down,” which makes sense only if release is far off, and so answers Hananiah's two-year promise. The exiles are to “Seek the prosperity of the city to which I have sent you as exiles,” and pray for it.
This site's exposition
Take wives and have sons and daughters
Three generations are in view here: the exiles, their children and their grandchildren. That span fits the seventy years of verse 10. Matthew Henry notes that Shemaiah scorned this advice, and verse 32 answers him by leaving him no descendants among the people.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 29, verses 1 and following) These are the words of the book that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders of the exile, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
that ye . . . be . . . not diminished--It was God's will that the seed of Abraham should not fail; thus consolation is given them, and the hope, though not of an immediate, yet of an ultimate, return.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
19 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קְח֣וּ | kechu | take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| נָשִׁ֗ים | nashim | wives | H802 → | 781 times |
| וְהוֹלִידוּ֮ | veholidu | and father | H3205 → | 496 times |
| בָּנִ֣ים | banim | sons | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וּבָנוֹת֒ | uvanot | and daughters | H1323 → | 588 times |
| וּקְח֨וּ | ukechu | and take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| לִבְנֵיכֶ֜ם | livneikhem | for sons your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| נָשִׁ֗ים | nashim | wives | H802 → | 781 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙ | benoteikhem | daughters your | H1323 → | 588 times |
| תְּנ֣וּ | tenu | give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לַֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים | laanashim | to husbands | H582 → | 566 times |
| וְתֵלַ֖דְנָה | veteladnah | so they may bear | H3205 → | 496 times |
| בָּנִ֣ים | banim | sons | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וּבָנ֑וֹת | uvanot | and daughters | H1323 → | 588 times |
| וּרְבוּ־ | urevu- | and multiply | H7235 → | 227 times |
| שָׁ֖ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| וְאַל־ | veal- | and may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תִּמְעָֽטוּ׃ | timatu | you diminish | H4591 → | 22 times |
קְח֣וּtake
kechuH3947 →966 times
נָשִׁ֗יםwives
nashimH802 →781 times
וְהוֹלִידוּ֮and father
veholiduH3205 →496 times
בָּנִ֣יםsons
banimH1121 →4930 times
וּבָנוֹת֒and daughters
uvanotH1323 →588 times
וּקְח֨וּand take
ukechuH3947 →966 times
לִבְנֵיכֶ֜םfor sons your
livneikhemH1121 →4930 times
נָשִׁ֗יםwives
nashimH802 →781 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
בְּנֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙daughters your
benoteikhemH1323 →588 times
תְּנ֣וּgive
tenuH5414 →2011 times
לַֽאֲנָשִׁ֔יםto husbands
laanashimH582 →566 times
וְתֵלַ֖דְנָהso they may bear
veteladnahH3205 →496 times
בָּנִ֣יםsons
banimH1121 →4930 times
וּבָנ֑וֹתand daughters
uvanotH1323 →588 times
וּרְבוּ־and multiply
urevu-H7235 →227 times
שָׁ֖םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
וְאַל־and may not
veal-H408 →724 times
תִּמְעָֽטוּ׃you diminish
timatuH4591 →22 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 29:19Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 6:11
Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Psalms 12:2
They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
- Isaiah 6:5
Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD…
- Isaiah 6:11
Through
Genesis 21:21And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
it leads to
- Numbers 12:16
After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.
- Numbers 13:26
and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit…
- Genesis 26:34–35
When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
- Numbers 10:12
and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.
- Judges 14:2
So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”
- Numbers 12:16
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.