Jeremiah 35:7

Contemporary English Version

or build houses or plant crops and vineyards. Instead, you must always live in tents and move from place to place. If you obey this command, you will live a long time."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You must not build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Rather, you must live in tents your whole life, so you may live a long time on the soil where you stay as a resident alien.’

Hebrew Names Version
neither shall you build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land in which you sojourn.

King James Version
Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.

English Standard Version
You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.'

New American Standard Bible
'You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed nor plant a vineyard, nor own one; but you shall live in tents all your days, so that you may live many days in the land where you live as strangers.'

New Century Version
Also you must never build houses, plant seeds, or plant vineyards, or do any of those things. You must live only in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are wanderers.'

Amplified Bible
'Nor shall you build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard or own one; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners (temporary residents).'

World English Bible
neither shall you build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land in which you sojourn.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seede, nor plant vineyarde, nor haue any, but all your dayes ye shall dwell in tentes, that ye may liue a long time in the land where ye be strangers.

Legacy Standard Bible
And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but tents you shall inhabit all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.'

Berean Standard Bible
Nor are you ever to build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Instead, you must live in tents all your lives, so that you may live a long time in the land where you sojourn.'

Complete Jewish Bible
Also you are not to build houses, sow seed, or plant or own vineyards. Rather, you are always to live in tents; so that you may live a long time in the land, in which you are not citizens.'

Darby Translation
neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor shall ye have [any]; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live many days in the land where ye sojourn.

Easy-to-Read Version
Also you must never build houses, plant seeds, or plant vineyards. You must never do any of those things. You must live only in tents. If you do that, you will live a long time in the land where you move from place to place.'

George Lamsa Translation
Neither shall you build houses for yourselves nor sow seed nor plant vineyards nor have any; but you shall dwell in tents all your days; for you shall live many days in the land where you sojourn.

Good News Translation
He also told us not to build houses or farm the land and not to plant vineyards or buy them. He commanded us always to live in tents, so that we might remain in this land where we live like strangers.

Lexham English Bible
And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard, and it shall not be for you, but in tents you shall live all your days, so that you may live many days on the surface of the land where you are dwelling as aliens.'

Literal Translation
And you shall not build a house nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor shall there be anything to you; but all your days you shall live in tents, so that you may live many days on the face of the land where you are residing.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
yee ye shall haue no vynyardes: but for all youre tyme ye shall dwell in tetes, yt ye maye lyue loge in the lode, wherin ye be straugers.

American Standard Version
neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land wherein ye sojourn.

Bible in Basic English
And you are to make no houses, or put in seed, or get vine-gardens planted, or have any: but all your days you are to go on living in tents, so that you may have a long life in the land where you are living as in a strange country.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live many days in the land wherein ye sojourn.

King James Version (1611)
Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant Uineyard, nor haue any: but all your dayes ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may liue many dayes in the land where ye be strangers.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yea ye shall haue no vineyardes: but for al your tyme ye shall dwel in tentes, that ye may liue long in the land wherin ye be straungers.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Nevertheless hear ye the word of the Lord which I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people.

English Revised Version
neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land wherein ye sojourn.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and ye schulen not bilde an hous, and ye schulen not sowe seed, and ye schulen not plaunte vynes, nether schulen haue, but ye schulen dwelle in tabernaclis in alle youre daies, that ye lyue many daies on the face of erthe, in which ye goen in pilgrymage.

Update Bible Version
neither shall you build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land wherein you sojourn.

Webster's Bible Translation
Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have [any]: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye [are] strangers.

New English Translation
Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one. Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will live a long time in the land that you wander about on.'

New King James Version
You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.'

New Living Translation
And do not build houses or plant crops or vineyards, but always live in tents. If you follow these commands, you will live long, good lives in the land.'

New Life Bible
You must never build a house. You must never plant seeds. And you must never plant a grape-field or own one. But you must always live in tents. Then you will live many days in the land where you have come to.'

New Revised Standard
nor shall you ever build a house, or sow seed; nor shall you plant a vineyard, or even own one; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you reside.'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
nor house, shall ye build nor, seed, shall ye sow, nor vineyard, shall ye plant, neither shall ye have them, - but in tents, shall ye dwell, all your days, that ye may live many days on the face of the soil where ye are sojourning.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Neither shall ye build houses, nor sow reed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any: but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days upon the face of the earth, in which you are strangers.

Revised Standard Version
you shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.'

Young's Literal Translation
and a house ye do not build, and seed ye do not sow, and a vineyard ye do not plant, nor have ye any; for in tents do ye dwell all your days, that ye may live many days on the face of the ground whither ye are sojourning.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but in tents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.'

Contextual Overview

¹ When Jehoiakim was king of Judah, the Lord told me, ² "Go to the Rechabite clan and invite them to meet you in one of the side rooms of the temple. When they arrive, offer them a drink of wine." ³ So I went to Jaazaniah, the leader of the clan, and I invited him and all the men of his clan. ⁴ I brought them into the temple courtyard and took them upstairs to a room belonging to the prophets who were followers of Hanan son of Igdaliah. It was next to a room belonging to some of the officials, and that room was over the one belonging to Maaseiah, a priest who was one of the high officials in the temple. ⁵ I set out some large bowls full of wine together with some cups, and then I said to the Rechabites, "Have some wine!" ⁶ But they answered: No! The ancestor of our clan, Jonadab son of Rechab, made a rule that we must obey. He said, "Don't ever drink wine ⁷ or build houses or plant crops and vineyards. Instead, you must always live in tents and move from place to place. If you obey this command, you will live a long time." ⁸Our clan has always obeyed Jonadab's command. To this very day, we and our wives and sons and daughters don't drink wine or build houses or plant vineyards or crops. And we have lived in tents, ¹¹ except now we have to live inside Jerusalem because Nebuchadnezzar has taken over the countryside with his army from Babylonia and Syria.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

all: Jeremiah 35:10, Genesis 25:27, Leviticus 23:42, Leviticus 23:43, Nehemiah 8:14-16, Ephesians 5:18, Hebrews 11:9-13, 1 Peter 2:11

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 35:9 - General Hosea 12:9 - yet

Cross-References

Genesis 28:13
The Lord was standing beside the ladder and said: I am the Lord God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping.

Genesis 28:19
and he named the place Bethel. Before that it had been named Luz.

Genesis 28:22
This rock will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me."

Genesis 35:1
God told Jacob, "Return to Bethel, where I appeared to you when you were running from your brother Esau. Make your home there and build an altar for me."

Genesis 35:3
Afterwards, we'll go to Bethel. I will build an altar there for God, who answered my prayers when I was in trouble and who has always been at my side.

Genesis 35:4
So everyone gave Jacob their idols and their earrings, and he buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.

Genesis 35:5
While Jacob and his family were traveling through Canaan, God terrified the people in the towns so much that no one dared bother them.

Exodus 17:15
Moses built an altar and named it "The Lord Gives Me Victory."

Judges 6:24
Gideon built an altar for worshiping the Lord and called it "The Lord Calms Our Fears." It still stands there in Ophrah, a town in the territory of the Abiezer clan.

Ezekiel 48:35
and so the total length of the wall will be six miles. The new name of the city will be "The- Lord -Is-Here!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard,

nor have [any],.... That is, they were not to build houses, sow seed, or plant vineyards, for themselves, for their own profit and advantage; nor possess either of these through purchase or gift: all this was enjoined them, partly because they were strangers in the land of Israel, as is suggested in the latter part of the verse, and so were to have no inheritance in it; and partly because the pastoral life was what their ancestors had lived; and therefore Jonadab was desirous it should be continued in his posterity; as well as because by this means they would live not envied by the Israelites, among whom they were; since they did not covet to get any part of their possessions into their hands; as also these being their circumstances, upon any public calamity, as sword, famine, or pestilence, they could more easily remove to other places; and likewise, by observing these rules, would not be liable to some sins, as drunkenness, worldly mindedness, c. which are often the cause of great calamities. The Essenes, a sect among the Jews afterwards, seem in some things to have copied after these Rechabites:

but all your days ye shall dwell in tents which they could move from place to place, for the convenience of pasture for the cattle, the business they were brought up in, and were always to exercise:

that ye may live many days in the land where ye [be] strangers; for they were not Israelites, as before observed, but Kenites, the descendants of Jethro; they were proselytes of the gate only; and now, partly on account of their obedience to parents, which had annexed to it the promise of long life in the land in which they lived; and partly because they would, by such a course of life, give no umbrage to, nor raise any jealousy in, the minds of the inhabitants of it, they might expect a continuance in it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wine is the symbol of a settled life, because the vine requires time for its growth and care in its cultivation, while the preparation of the wine itself requires buildings, and it then has to be stored up before it is ready for use. The drink of nomads consists of the milk of their herds.

Jeremiah 35:7

Strangers - Because not of Jewish blood, though wandering in their territory.