the First Week of Lent
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Complete Jewish Bible
Jeremiah 31:15
Bible Study Resources
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This is what the Lord says:
Thus says the LORD: 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.
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.
Thus says the Lord : "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more."
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."
This is what the Lord says: "A voice was heard in Ramah of painful crying and deep sadness: Rachel crying for her children. She refused to be comforted, because her children are dead!"
Thus says the LORD, "A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation (songs of mourning) and bitter weeping. Rachel (Israel) is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are gone."
Thus says Yahweh: 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.
Thus saith the Lord, A voyce was heard on hie, a mourning and bitter weeping. Rahel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Thus says Yahweh,"A voice is heard in Ramah,Wailing and bitter weeping.Rachel is weeping for her children;She refuses to be comforted for her childrenBecause they are no more."
This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing consolation, because they are no more."
In Ramah a voice is heard, crying and weeping loudly. Rachel mourns for her children and refuses to be comforted, because they are dead.
Thus saith Jehovah: A voice hath been heard in Ramah, the wail of very bitter weeping,—Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are not.
This is what the Lord says: "A sound is heard in Ramah— bitter crying and great sadness. Rachel cries for her children, and she refuses to be comforted, because her children are gone."
Thus says the LORD: A voice was heard in Ramtha, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel is weeping for her children, and she refuses to be comforted because they are not.
The Lord says, "A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is crying for her children; they are gone, and she refuses to be comforted.
Thus says Yahweh, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, the weeping of bitterness. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted because of her children, for they are no more."
So says Jehovah, A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing, bitter weeping: Rachel weeping for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her sons for they are not.
Thus saieth the LORDE: The voyce of heuynes, wepynge and lamentacion came vp in to heauen: euen of Rachel mournynge for hir children, and wolde not be comforted, because they were awaye.
Thus saith Jehovah: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not.
So has the Lord said: In Ramah there is a sound of crying, weeping and bitter sorrow; Rachel weeping for her children; she will not be comforted for their loss.
Thus saith the LORD: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
Thus saith the Lord; A voyce was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rahel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Thus saith the Lorde, The voyce of heauinesse, weepyng, and lamentation was hearde on hye, euen of Rachel mournyng for her children, and woulde not be comforted because they were not.
Moab is ruined, even his city, and his choice young men have gone down to slaughter.
Thus saith the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not.
The Lord seith these thingis, A vois of weilyng, and of wepyng, and of mourenyng, was herd an hiy; the vois of Rachel biwepynge hir sones, and not willynge to be coumfortid on hem, for thei ben not.
Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her sons, because they are not.
Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they [were] not.
The Lord says, "A sound is heard in Ramah, a sound of crying in bitter grief. It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone."
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."
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."
The Lord says, "The sound of crying and much sorrow is heard in Ramah. Rachel is crying for her children. She will not be comforted because they are dead."
Thus says the Lord : A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.
Thus, saith Yahweh - A voice, in Ramah, is heard, Wailing, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, - She refuseth to be comforted for her children, For they are not!
Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation, of mourning, and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted for them, because they are not.
Thus says the LORD: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not."
Thus said Jehovah, A voice in Ramah is heard, wailing, weeping most bitter, Rachel is weeping for her sons, She hath refused to be comforted for her sons, because they are not.
Again, God 's Message: "Listen to this! Laments coming out of Ramah, wild and bitter weeping. It's Rachel weeping for her children, Rachel refusing all solace. Her children are gone, gone—long gone into exile." But God says, "Stop your incessant weeping, hold back your tears. Collect wages from your grief work." God 's Decree. "They'll be coming back home! There's hope for your children." God 's Decree.
Thus says the LORD, "A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more."
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
A: Ezekiel 2:10, Matthew 2:16
Ramah: Jeremiah 40:1, Joshua 18:25, 1 Samuel 7:17, Matthew 2:18, Rama
refused: Genesis 37:35, Psalms 77:2, Isaiah 22:4
because: Genesis 42:13, Genesis 42:36, Job 7:21, Psalms 37:36, Lamentations 5:7
Reciprocal: Genesis 5:24 - he was not Genesis 29:17 - Rachel Genesis 37:30 - General Exodus 11:6 - General Judges 4:5 - between 1 Samuel 10:2 - Rachel's 1 Kings 15:17 - Ramah Esther 4:4 - but he received it not Psalms 90:14 - satisfy Ecclesiastes 7:3 - is better Isaiah 10:29 - Ramah Isaiah 49:21 - seeing Jeremiah 10:20 - my children Jeremiah 30:5 - a voice Luke 7:13 - Weep not Luke 15:24 - he
Cross-References
Let me take my wives, for whom I have served you, and my children; and let me go. You know very well how faithfully I have served you."
and that your father has belittled me and has changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to do me any damage.
Then, in the dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Ya‘akov!' and I replied, ‘Here I am.'
and he considers us foreigners, since he has sold us; moreover, he has consumed everything he received in exchange for us.
and Ya‘akov outwitted Lavan the Arami by not telling him of his intended flight.
Why did you flee in secret and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and lyres.
Granted that you had to leave, because you longed so deeply for your father's house; but why did you steal my gods?"
These twenty years I've been in your house — I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock; and you changed my wages ten times!
I said to them, "We, to the limit of our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Judeans who sold themselves to the pagans. Now you are selling your own brothers, and we will have to buy them back!" They stayed silent; they couldn't think of anything to say.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Thus saith the Lord, a voice was heard in Ramah,.... Which signifies a high place; hence the Targum paraphrases it,
"in the high place of the world;''
and so the Vulgate Latin version,
"in a high place;''
but it is here the proper name of a place, of a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:25; and this voice heard was not a voice of joy and gladness as before, but of
lamentation [and] bitter weeping; signifying great sorrow and distress upon some very extraordinary occasion; and is as follows:
Rachel weeping for her children; not really and in person, but by a figurative way of speaking. Rachel is introduced as representing the Jewish women in those parts mourning for their slaughtered infants, even those that were slaughtered some time after the birth of Christ; for to this barbarous fact are the words applied by the Evangelist Matthew, as a fulfilment of them, Matthew 2:16; and with great propriety and pertinence is Rachel brought in as the chief, yea, sole mourner, representing all the sorrowful mothers; since Ramah was in the tribe of Benjamin, a child of hers, as far as which, it seems, the bloody massacre referred to reached, from Bethlehem, where it began; and since Rachel's grave was between these two places, Genesis 35:18; she is represented as rising out of her grave to act this part; or it signifies, that could she have been sensible of this inhuman affair, and could have come out of her grave, she would have done what she is here represented to do; and the rather is she mentioned, since she was so affectionately fond and desirous of children, Genesis 30:1;
refused to be comforted for her children; by any of her friends, the loss was so great, the affliction so heavy:
because they [were] not; or, "because he was not" q; the Messiah was not, but was slain among the rest of the children, as the Jewish mothers, whom Rachel represented, imagined; and this heightened their distress, and filled them with more grief and trouble than the loss of their own children: but as Matthew has the plural number, the Targum, and all the Oriental versions, it is best to understand it of the children who "were not"; that is, they were dead; they were not in the land of the living, as this phrase is used in Genesis 37:30; which shows that this is not to be understood of the Babylonish captivity, and of the mourning of the Jewish women on that account; since the cause of this was death, and not captivity; besides, mourning for so general a calamity as captivity would not have been confined to mothers, and to some only, and to one particular place; though so the Jewish writers interpret it; and the Targum, which is,
"a voice was heard in the high place of the world, the house of Israel weeping and mourning after Jeremiah the prophet, whom Nabuzaradan the chief of those that slew, sent from Ramah; lamentation and weeping with bitterness, Jerusalem weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were gone into captivity.''
q כי איננו "quia non ipse", Vatablus; "vel non ille" i.e. "non sit ullus", Schmidt.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The religious character of the restoration of the ten tribes. Chastisement brought repentance, and with it forgiveness; therefore God decrees their restoration.
Jeremiah 31:15
Ramah, mentioned because of its nearness to Jerusalem, from which it was distant about five miles. As the mother of three tribes, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, Rachel is regarded as the mother of the whole ten. This passage is quoted by Matthew (marginal reference) as a type. In Jeremiah it is a poetical figure representing in a dramatic form the miserable condition of the kingdom of Ephraim devastated by the sword of the Assyrians.
Jeremiah 31:16
Rachel’s work had been that of bearing and bringing up children, and by their death she was deprived of the joy for which she had labored: but by their being restored to her she will receive her wages.
Jeremiah 31:17
In thine end - i. e., for thy time to come (see the Jeremiah 29:11 note).
Jeremiah 31:18
As a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke - literally, like an untaught calf. Compare the Hosea 10:11 note. Ephraim, like an untrained steer, had resisted Yahweh’s will.
Jeremiah 31:19
After that I was turned - i. e., after I had turned away from Thee. In Jeremiah 31:18 it has the sense of turning to God.
Instructed - Brought to my senses by suffering. The smiting upon the thigh is a sign of sorrow. Compare Ezekiel 21:17.
The reproach of my youth - i. e., the shame brought upon me by sins of my youth.
Jeremiah 31:20
Moved to compassion by Ephraim’s lamentation, Yahweh shows Himself as tender and ready to forgive as parents are their spoiled (rather, darling) child.
For ... him - Or, “that so often as I speak concerning him,” i. e., his punishment.
My bowels are troubled - The metaphor expresses the most tender internal emotion.
Jeremiah 31:21
Waymarks - See 2 Kings 23:17 note.
High heaps - Or, signposts, pillars to point out the way.
Set thine heart - Not set thy affection, but turn thy thoughts and attention (in Hebrew the heart is the seat of the intellect) to the highway, even the way by which thou wentest.
Jeremiah 31:22
Israel instead of setting itself to return hesitates, and goes here and there in a restless mood. To encourage it God gives the sign following.
A woman shall compass a man - i. e., the female shall protect the strong man; the weaker nature that needs help will surround the stronger with loving and fostering care. This expresses a new relation of Israel to the Lord, a new covenant, which the Lord will make with His people (Jeremiah 31:31 following). The fathers saw in these words a prophecy of the miraculous conception of our Lord by the Virgin.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Jeremiah 31:15. A voice was heard in Ramah — The Ramah mentioned here, (for there were several towns of this name,) was situated in the tribe of Benjamin, about six or seven miles from Jerusalem. Near this place Rachel was buried; who is here, in a beautiful figure of poetry, represented as coming out of her grave, and lamenting bitterly for the loss of her children, none of whom presented themselves to her view, all being slain or gone into exile. St. Matthew, who is ever fond of accommodation, applies these words, Matthew 2:17-18, to the massacre of the children at Bethlehem. That is, they were suitable to that occasion, and therefore he so applied them; but they are not a prediction of that event.
