Jeremiah 31:15 (WEB)
The LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Jeremiah 31:15 (KJV)
Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Key words
- רָמָהRamah · Hebrew
- the town north of Jerusalem where the exiles were gathered for deportation (Jeremiah 40:1); near it, by one tradition, lay Rachel's tomb.
- רָחֵל מְבַכָּהRachel mevakkah · Hebrew
- 'Rachel weeping' — the long-dead matriarch weeps from her grave for the children of Israel going into exile.
- מֵאֲנָה לְהִנָּחֵםme'anah lehinnachem · Hebrew
- 'refuseth to be comforted' — inconsolable grief.
Why it matters
Jeremiah pictures Rachel weeping from the grave for her exiled children, and God answers her tears with a promise of return (vv. 16–17). Pitre notes that Jewish tradition made much of this: Rachel became the mother who intercedes for Israel and whose prayer God cannot refuse. Matthew places this very lament at the slaughter of the Bethlehem infants, drawing Mary, the Bethlehem mother, into Rachel's role.
Fathers and councils · 7
Justin Martyr
“And Jeremiah prophesied that this would happen, speaking by the Holy Ghost thus: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and much wailing, Rachel weeping for her children; and she would not be comforted, because they are not.’” — editor's note: Jer. xxxi. 15.
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Gregory of Nyssa
“Oh! what a cry like that of old will be heard in Rama, Rachel weeping, not for her children but for a husband, and admitting not of consolation.” — editor's note: Jer. xxxi. 15.
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Catena Aurea on Matthew
- Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
“Phares is interpreted, ‘division,’ Zamar ‘the east,’ and Thamar, ‘bitterness.’ [ed note, z: תַּמְרוּרִים bitterness, from מרר Jer. 31:15, Hos 12:15] Thus confession begets separation from vice, the rise of virtue, and the bitterness of repentance.” — the author cites it
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John Chrysostom
“…by Herod, they bring in Jeremy, saying, “In Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children” ( Matt. ii. 18; Jer. xxxi. 15 ); and again, when He comes up out of Egypt, they mention Hosea, saying, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son” ( Matt. ii. 15; Hosea…” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment““Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet,saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”” — editor's note: Jer. xxxi. 15.
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Tertullian
“Let Herod, too, mend his manners, so that Jeremy may not glory over him.” — editor's note: Matt. ii. 16–18, and Jer. xxxi. 15.
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Hippolytus of Rome
“For this reason, he says, “Rachel wept for her children, and would not,” says (the prophet), “be comforted; sorrowing for them, for she knew,” says he, “that they are not.”” — editor's note: Jer. xxxi. 15; Matt. ii. 18.
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Cross-references · 10
Cited together with
Cited together in Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 78.
Cited together in Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 1:3–6 (6) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 1:3–6 (6) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 1:3–6 (6) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 1:3–6 (6) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 1:3–6 (6) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 78.
Cited together in Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 78.
Cross-reference given by the World English Bible's translators.
Quoted in
Matthew 2:18 takes up the words of Jeremiah 31:15 (15 words in common).