This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh 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.”
- 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.
- NKJV Thus says the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.”
- NASB ¶This is what the Lord says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamenting and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.”
- NLT This is what the Lord says: “A cry is heard in Ramah— deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted— for her children are gone.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A voice of bitter weeping is heard in Ramah, Rachel mourning her lost children who 'are no more.' Deep grief accompanies the exile of God's people.
Overview
Rachel, the matriarch, is poetically pictured weeping over her descendants carried into exile. Matthew 2:18 applies this verse to the grief at Herod's slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem. Set amid promises of hope, it shows that God acknowledges real sorrow even as He pledges comfort and return.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Matt 2:16–18When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
- Ps 77:2In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Jer 40:1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had released him at Ramah, having found him bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.
- Gen 35:19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
- Jer 10:20My tent is destroyed, and all its ropes are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. I have no one left to pitch my tent or set up my curtains.
- Gen 37:35All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
- Isa 22:4Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
- Gen 42:36Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”
- Gen 42:13But they answered, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”
- Lam 5:7Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
- Ezek 2:10which He unrolled before me. And written on the front and back of it were words of lamentation, mourning, and woe.
- Ps 37:36yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.
- Gen 5:24Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.
- Job 7:21Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”
- 1 Sam 7:17Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, and there he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.
- Josh 18:25Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 31:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.