Ezekiel 36:10

36:10 I will multiply your people ¹  – the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be populated and the ruins rebuilt.

Ezekiel 36:37

36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: ²  I will multiply their people like sheep. ³ 

Isaiah 27:6

27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; ⁴ 

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce ⁵  will fill the surface of the world. ⁶ 

Isaiah 49:21

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ⁷ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ⁸ 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

Jeremiah 30:19

30:19 Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving ⁹ 

and the sounds of laughter and merriment.

I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. ¹⁰ 

I will bring them honor and they will no longer be despised.

Jeremiah 31:27

Israel and Judah Will Be Repopulated

31:27 “Indeed, a time is coming,” ¹¹  says the Lord, ¹²  “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah. ¹³ 

Zechariah 8:4-5

8:4 Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says, ‘Old men and women will once more live in the plazas of Jerusalem, each one leaning on a cane because of advanced age. 8:5 And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing. ¹⁴ 

Hebrews 6:14

6:14 saying, “Surely I will bless you greatly and multiply your descendants abundantly.” ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “I will multiply on you human(s).”

² tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”

³ sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”

⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “the coming ones, let Jacob take root.” הַבָּאִים (habba’im, “the coming ones”) should probably be emended to יָמִים בָאִים (yamim va’im, “days [are] coming”) or בְּיָמִים הַבָּאִים (biyamim habba’im, “in the coming days”).

⁵ tn Heb “fruit” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

⁶ sn This apparently refers to a future population explosion. See 26:18.

⁷ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

⁸ tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”

⁹ tn Heb “Out of them will come thanksgiving and a sound of those who are playful.”

¹⁰ sn Compare Jer 29:6.

¹¹ tn Heb “Behold days are coming!” The particle “Behold” is probably used here to emphasize the reality of a fact. See the translator’s note on 1:6.

¹² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹³ tn Heb “Behold, the days are coming and [= when] I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of people and of animals.” For the significance of the metaphor see the study note.

¹⁴ sn The references to longevity and to children living and playing in peace are eschatological in tone. Elsewhere the millennial kingdom is characterized in a similar manner (cf. Isa 65:20; Jer 31:12-13).

¹⁵ tn Grk “in blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply you,” the Greek form of a Hebrew idiom showing intensity.