Jeremiah 31 · Verse 15

Jeremiah 31:15

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.

Jeremiah 31:15, King James Version

Jeremiah 31:15 in other translations

BSB	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.”
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.”
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.
YLT	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.
DARBY	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.
BBE	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.
Webster	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.

What does Jeremiah 31:15 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

15. Ramah--In Benjamin, east of the great northern road, two hours' journey from Jerusalem. Rachel, who all her life had pined for children (Ge 30:1), and who died with "sorrow" in giving birth to Benjamin (Ge 35:18, 19, Margin; 1Sa 10:2), and was buried at Ramah, near Beth-lehem, is represented as raising her head from the tomb, and as breaking forth into "weeping" at seeing the whole land depopulated of her sons, the Ephraimites. Ramah was the place where Nebuzara-dan collected all the Jews in chains, previous to their removal to Babylon (Jr 40:1). 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]. Besides the temporary reference to the exiles in Babylon, the Holy Spirit foreshadowed ultimately Messiah's exile in Egypt, and the desolation caused in the neighborhood of Rachel's tomb by Herod's massacre of the children, whose mothers had "sons of sorrow" (Ben-oni), just as Rachel had. The return of Messiah (the representative of Israel) from Egypt, and the future restoration of Israel, both the literal and the spiritual (including the innocents), at the Lord's second advent, are antitypical of the restoration of Israel from Babylon, which is the ground of consolation held out here by Jeremiah. The clause, "They were not," that is, were dead (Ge 42:13), does not apply so strictly to the exiles in Babylon as it does to the history of Messiah and His people--past, present, and future. So the words, "There is hope in thine end," are to be fulfilled ultimately, when Rachel shall meet her murdered children at the resurrection, at the same time that literal Israel is to be restored. "They were not," in Hebrew, is singular; each was not: each mother at the Beth-lehem massacre had but one child to lament, as the limitation of age in Herod's order, "two years and under," implies; this use of the singular distributively (the mothers weeping severally, each for her own child), is a coincidence between the prophecy of the Beth-lehem massacre and the event, the more remarkable as not being obvious: the singular, too, is appropriate as to Messiah in His Egyptian exile, who was to be a leading object of Rachel's lamentation.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 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, Mat 2:17, Mat 2:18, 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 31:10-17

He that scattered Israel, knows where to find them. It is comfortable to observe the goodness of the Lord in the gifts of providence. But our souls are never valuable as gardens, unless watered with the dews of God's Spirit and grace. A precious promise follows, which will not have full accomplishment except in the heavenly Zion. Let them be satisfied of God's loving-kindness, and they will be satisfied with it, and…

Read the full comment on Jeremiah 31:10-17 →

Jeremiah 31:15 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כֹּ֣ה\׀kohthusH3541

אָמַ֣ר'a.Marhe saysH559

יְהוָ֗הYah.wehYahwehH3068

ק֣וֹלKola voiceH6963

בְּרָמָ֤הbe.ra.Mahin RamahH7414

נִשְׁמָע֙nish.Ma'[is] heardH8085

נְהִי֙ne.Hia mourning songH5092

בְּכִ֣יbe.Khiweeping ofH1065

תַמְרוּרִ֔יםtam.ru.Rimbitterness<es>H8563

רָחֵ֖לra.ChelRachelH7354

מְבַכָּ֣הme.va.Kah[is] weepingH1058

עַל\־'al-onH5921

בָּנֶ֑יהָba.Nei.hachildren herH1121

מֵאֲנָ֛הme.'a.Nahshe has refusedH3985

לְהִנָּחֵ֥םle.hi.na.Chemto be comfortedH5162

עַל\־'al-onH5921

בָּנֶ֖יהָba.Nei.hachildren herH1121

כִּ֥יkiforH3588

אֵינֶֽנּוּ\׃\ \ס'ei.Ne.nuthere not [is] heH369

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 31:15

Matthew 2:16-18
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
Psalms 77:2
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.
Jeremiah 40:1
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after that Nebuzar–adan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.
Jeremiah 10:20
My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
Genesis 37:35
And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
Isaiah 22:4
Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
Genesis 35:19
And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth–lehem.
Genesis 42:13
And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
Genesis 42:36
And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.
Lamentations 5:7
Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
Ezekiel 2:10
And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
Genesis 5:24
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A.
Eze 2:10; Mt 2:16
Ramah.
40:1; Jos 18:25; 1Sa 7:17; Mt 2:18
Rama.
refused.
Ge 37:35; Ps 77:2; Isa 22:4
because.
Ge 42:13,36; Job 7:21; Ps 37:36; La 5:7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Jeremiah 31:14
And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 31:15
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.
Jeremiah 31:16
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 again from the land of the enemy.

Read all of Jeremiah 31

Jeremiah 31:15 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Así ha dicho Jehová: Voz fué oída en Ramá, llanto y lloro amargo: Rachêl que lamenta por sus hijos, no quiso ser consolada acerca de sus hijos, porque perecieron.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Ainsi dit l’ Éternel: Une voix a été entendue à Rama, une lamentation, des pleurs amers, Rachel pleurant ses fils, refusant d’être consolée au sujet de ses fils, parce qu’ils ne sont pas.
German Elberfelder 1871	So spricht Jehova: Eine Stimme wird in Rama gehört, Wehklage, bitteres Weinen. Rahel beweint ihre Kinder; sie will sich nicht trösten lassen über ihre Kinder, weil sie nicht mehr sind.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Hæc dicit Dominus: Vox in excelso audita est lamentationis: luctus, et fletus Rachel plorantis filios suos, et nolentis consolari super eis, quia non sunt.