Jeremiah 29:6

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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jeremiah speaks to the Judean exiles in Babylon, instructing them to establish permanent family structures and intergenerational continuity in their place of displacement.

The words — The Hebrew imperative קְח֣וּ (ke.Chu) commands "take" regarding wives, paired with וְ/הוֹלִידוּ (ve./ho.li.Du), meaning "and father/bring forth," to emphasize active procreation.

The thread — The directive to arrange marriages and produce offspring echoes patriarchal family patterns found in Genesis 21:21, Genesis 24:3, and Genesis 24:51.

Why it lands — The text commands the exiles to multiply and stabilize their community rather than retreat into isolation or despair.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

קְח֣וּke.Chutake נָשִׁ֗יםna.Shimwives וְהוֹלִידוּ֮ve./ho.li.Duand/ father בָּנִ֣יםba.Nimsons וּבָנוֹת֒u./va.nOtand/ daughters וּקְח֨וּu./ke.Chuand/ take לִבְנֵיכֶ֜םli/v.nei./Khemfor/ sons/ your נָשִׁ֗יםna.Shimwives וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>בְּנֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙be.no.tei./Khemdaughters/ your תְּנ֣וּte.Nugive לַֽאֲנָשִׁ֔יםla./'a.na.Shimto/ husbands וְתֵלַ֖דְנָהve./te.Lad.nahso/ they may bear בָּנִ֣יםba.Nimsons וּבָנ֑וֹתu./va.Notand/ daughters וּרְבוּ־u./re.vu-and/ multiply שָׁ֖םshamthere וְאַל־ve./'al-and/ may not תִּמְעָֽטוּ׃tim.'A.tuyou diminish

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Genesis 21:21 And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Genesis 24:3 and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,
Genesis 24:51 Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the LORD has decreed.”
Genesis 28:1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded.
Genesis 29:19 Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.”
Judges 12:9 He had thirty sons, as well as thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage to men outside his clan; and for his sons he brought back thirty wives from elsewhere. Ibzan judged Israel seven years.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 9:7 But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”
Genesis 34:4 So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”
Judges 1:12 And Caleb said, “To the man who strikes down Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage.”