Jeremiah 31:17 (WEB)
There is hope for your latter end,” says the LORD. “Your children will come again to their own territory.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Jeremiah 31:17 (KJV)
And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
Key words
- וְיֵשׁ־תִּקְוָה לְאַחֲרִיתֵךְveyesh-tiqvah le'acharitekh · Hebrew
- 'there is hope in thine end' — God's answer to Rachel's weeping.
- וְשָׁבוּ בָנִים לִגְבוּלָםveshavu vanim ligvulam · Hebrew
- 'thy children shall come again to their own border' — the exiles will return.
Why it matters
God answers Rachel's tears with a promise: there is hope, and her children will come home. Pitre stresses that Rachel's weeping is intercession that works (p 145), a point the rabbis developed into the tradition that Rachel's prayer succeeded where Abraham's and Moses' failed (Lamentations Rabbah 24). Mary, the new Rachel, weeps for her children and is heard.