Jeremiah 31:15
in Jeremiah 31This 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.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
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.
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This verse in Jeremiah 31
Commentary
4 notes on this verseWhy then need I watch the rising and setting of the stars, at whose rising the fallows should be ploughed up and pierced by the hard plough-shares, and at whose setting the fruitful crop should be cut down by the sickle? One star suffices for me in the place of all others, the bright and morning Star, at Whose rising was sown the seed not of corn but of martyrs; when Rachel wept for her children, and offered in the stead of Christ her children washed in her own tears.
This site's exposition
Rahel weeping for her children
on Jeremiah 31:15-17
A voice was heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted, because they were not: the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, buried on the road the exiles walked, mourning the generations marched past her tomb. Matthew quotes the verse at 2:18 over the children of Bethlehem, and the exposition shows what Matthew's readers were meant to see: in Jeremiah the weeping is answered in the next breath, refrain thy voice from weeping... they shall come again from the land of the enemy, and there is hope in thine end. The citation carries the hope with the grief, as the older writers insist: Rachel's children come home in both testaments.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The religious character of the restoration of the ten tribes. Chastisement brought repentance, and with it forgiveness; therefore God decrees their restoration. Jer 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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
God therefore consoles her with the promise of their restoration. Mt 2:17, 18 quotes this as fulfilled in the massacre of the innocents under Herod. "A lesser and a greater event, of different times, may answer to the single sense of one passage of Scripture, until the prophecy is exhausted" [BENGEL].
The words behind it
19 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּ֣ה׀ | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֗ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| ק֣וֹל | kol | a voice | H6963 → | 506 times |
| בְּרָמָ֤ה | beramah | in Ramah | H7414 → | |
| נִשְׁמָע֙ | nishma' | [is] heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| נְהִי֙ | nehi | a mourning song | H5092 → | 7 times |
| בְּכִ֣י | bekhi | weeping of | H1065 → | 30 times |
| תַמְרוּרִ֔ים | tamrurim | bitterness<es> | H8563 → | |
| רָחֵ֖ל | rachel | Rachel | H7354 → | |
| מְבַכָּ֣ה | mevakah | [is] weeping | H1058 → | 114 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בָּנֶ֑יהָ | baneiha | children her | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| מֵאֲנָ֛ה | meanah | she has refused | H3985 → | 41 times |
| לְהִנָּחֵ֥ם | lehinachem | to be comforted | H5162 → | 108 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בָּנֶ֖יהָ | baneiha | children her | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֵינֶֽנּוּ׃ ס | ʾeinenu | there not [is] he | H369 → | 789 times |
כֹּ֣ה׀thus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַ֣רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֗הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
ק֣וֹלa voice
kolH6963 →506 times
בְּרָמָ֤הin Ramah
beramahH7414 →
נִשְׁמָע֙[is] heard
nishma'H8085 →1159 times
נְהִי֙a mourning song
nehiH5092 →7 times
בְּכִ֣יweeping of
bekhiH1065 →30 times
תַמְרוּרִ֔יםbitterness<es>
tamrurimH8563 →
רָחֵ֖לRachel
rachelH7354 →
מְבַכָּ֣ה[is] weeping
mevakahH1058 →114 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בָּנֶ֑יהָchildren her
baneihaH1121 →4930 times
מֵאֲנָ֛הshe has refused
meanahH3985 →41 times
לְהִנָּחֵ֥םto be comforted
lehinachemH5162 →108 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בָּנֶ֖יהָchildren her
baneihaH1121 →4930 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֵינֶֽנּוּ׃ סthere not [is] he
ʾeinenuH369 →789 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 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.
it leads to
- Isaiah 26:9
My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
- Psalms 50:15
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
- Genesis 37:35
All 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.
- Isaiah 26:16
O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
- Hebrews 5:7
During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His…
- Isaiah 26:9
Through
Jeremiah 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.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:20
Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.
- Jeremiah 4:20
Through
Genesis 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.
it leads to
- Genesis 42:38
But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring…
- Genesis 42:38
Through
Jeremiah 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…
it leads to
- Acts 21:13
Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
- Acts 21:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
About Jeremiah
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Letter 44.11; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.