Jeremiah 29:6

6 "Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children so that you'll thrive in that country and not waste away.

Jeremiah 29:6 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 29:6

Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters
That is, such as had no wives, who were either bachelors or widowers; not that they were to take wives of the Chaldeans, but of those of their own nation; for intermarriages with Heathens were forbidden them; and this they were to do, in order to propagate their posterity, and keep up a succession: and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands;
or "men" ^F19; preserving and establishing the right of parents to give their children in marriage, and pointing to them their duty to provide suitable yoke fellows for them; and hereby is signified, that not only they, but their children after them, should continue in this state of captivity: that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there;
and not diminished;
like their ancestors in Egypt, who grew very numerous amidst all their afflictions and bondage.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (Myvnal) "viris", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 29:6 In-Context

4 This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, to all the exiles I've taken from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5 "Build houses and make yourselves at home. "Put in gardens and eat what grows in that country.

6 "Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children so that you'll thrive in that country and not waste away.

7 "Make yourselves at home there and work for the country's welfare. "Pray for Babylon's well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you."

8 Yes. Believe it or not, this is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God: "Don't let all those so-called preachers and know-it-alls who are all over the place there take you in with their lies. Don't pay any attention to the fantasies they keep coming up with to please you.