Jeremiah 29:6 (LSB)

Passage

Take wives and become the fathers of 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 do not decrease.

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 29:4 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

Jeremiah 29:5 ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

Jeremiah 29:6 Take wives and become the fathers of 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 do not decrease.

Jeremiah 29:7 Seek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to Yahweh on its behalf; for in its peace you will have peace.’

Jeremiah 29:8 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams which you dream.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "take", "wives", "become", "fathers", "sons", and "daughters". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "take" and "wives", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "Build houses and live in them and..." into verse 7's "Seek the peace of the city where...", so "take" and "wives" belong inside that flow. In Jeremiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "take" and "wives" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.