Matthew 2 · Verse 18

Matthew 2:18

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.
Matthew 2:18, King James Version

Matthew 2:18 in other translations

BSB“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
WEB“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”
ASVA voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; And she would not be comforted, because they are not.
YLT‘A voice in Ramah was heard--lamentation and weeping and much mourning--Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted because they are not.'
DARBYA voice has been heard in Rama, weeping, and great lamentation: Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
BBEIn Ramah there was a sound of weeping and great sorrow, Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted for their loss.
WebsterIn 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.

What does Matthew 2:18 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
18. 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--These words, as they stand in Jeremiah, undoubtedly relate to the Babylonish captivity. Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, was buried in the neighborhood of Bethlehem (Ge 35:19), where her sepulchre is still shown. She is figuratively represented as rising from the tomb and uttering a double lament for the loss of her children--first, by a bitter captivity, and now by a bloody death. And a foul deed it was. O ye mothers of Bethlehem! methinks I hear you asking why your innocent babes should be the ram caught in the thicket, while Isaac escapes. I cannot tell you, but one thing I know, that ye shall, some of you, live to see a day when that Babe of Bethlehem shall be Himself the Ram, caught in another sort of thicket, in order that your babes may escape a worse doom than they now endure. And if these babes of yours be now in glory, through the dear might of that blessed Babe, will they not deem it their honor that the tyrant's rage was exhausted upon themselves instead of their infant Lord?

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 18 In Rama was there a voice heard - These words, quoted from Jer 31:15, were originally spoken concerning the captivity of the ten tribes; but are here elegantly applied to the murder of the innocents at Bethlehem. As if he had said, Bethlehem at this time resembled Rama; for as Rachel might be said to weep over her children, which were slaughtered or gone into captivity; so in Bethlehem, the mothers lamented bitterly their children, because they were slain. The word θρηνος, lamentation is omitted by the Codd. Vatic. Cypr. one of Selden's MSS. the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, Ethiopic, all the Itala, (except that in the Cod. Bezae), Vulgate, and Saxon, several of the fathers, and above all Jeremiah, Jer 31:15, from which it is quoted. Griesbach leaves it in the text with a note of doubtfulness. This mourning may refer to cases far from uncommon in the east, where all the children have been massacred. The lamentations of a Hindoo mother for her child are loud and piercing; and it is almost impossible to conceive of a scene more truly heart-rending than that of a whole town of such mothers wailing over their massacred children. See Ward.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Matthew 2:16-18

Herod killed all the male children, not only in Bethlehem, but in all the villages of that city. Unbridled wrath, armed with an unlawful power, often carries men to absurd cruelties. It was no unrighteous thing with God to permit this; every life is forfeited to his justice as soon as it begins. The diseases and deaths of little children are proofs of original sin. But the murder of these infants was their…

Read the full comment on Matthew 2:16-18 →

Matthew 2:18 in the original Greek

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.

φωνὴphōnēA voiceG5456
ἐνeninG1722
ῬαμὰRhamaRamahG4471
ἠκούσθη,ēkousthēwas heard,G191
θρῆνοςthrēnoslamentationG2355
καὶkaiandG2532
κλαυθμὸςklauthmosweepingG2805
καὶkaiandG2532
ὀδυρμὸςodurmosmourningG3602
πολύς,polusgreat,G4183
ῬαχὴλRhachēlRachelG4478
κλαίουσαklaiousaweeping [for]G2799
τὰtatheG3588
τέκναteknachildrenG5043
αὐτῆς,autēsof her,G846
καὶkaiandG2532
οὐκouknotG3756
ἤθελενēthelenwas willingG2309
παρακληθῆναιparaklēthēnaito be comfortedG3870
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
οὐκoukno moreG3756
εἰσίν.¶eisinthey are.G1510

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

Cross references for Matthew 2:18

  • 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 9:17-21

    Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. …

  • Jeremiah 4:31

    For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

  • Genesis 35:16-20

    And they journeyed from Beth–el; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben–oni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth–lehem. …

  • 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 37:30

    And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?

  • Job 14:10

    But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

  • Revelation 8:13

    And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

  • Genesis 37:33-35

    And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 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.

  • 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.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rama.
Jer 31:15
Ramah. lamentation.
Jer 4:31; 9:17-21; Eze 2:10; Re 8:13
Rachel.
Ge 35:16-20
would.
Ge 37:30,33-35; 42:36; Job 14:10

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

Context

  • Matthew 2:17

    Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

  • Matthew 2:18

    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.

  • Matthew 2:19

    But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

Read all of Matthew 2

Matthew 2:18 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Voz fué oída en Ramá, grande lamentación, lloro y gemido: Rachêl que llora sus hijos; y no quiso ser consolada, porque perecieron.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		« Une voix a été entendue à Rama, des lamentations, et des pleurs, et de grands gémissements, Rachel pleurant ses enfants; et elle n’a pas voulu être consolée, parce qu’ils ne sont pas ».
German
Elberfelder 1871		"Eine Stimme ist in Rama gehört worden, Weinen und viel Wehklagen: Rahel beweint ihre Kinder, und sie wollte sich nicht trösten lassen, weil sie nicht mehr sind."
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Vox in Rama audita est ploratus, et ululatus multus: Rachel plorans filios suos, et noluit consolari, quia non sunt.