Matthew 2:18

Grief Parents and children Death and loss Comfort

¹⁶ When 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.

¹⁷ Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“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.”

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.

²⁰ “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are now dead.”

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

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.”
KJV: 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.
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.”
ASV: A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; And she would not be comforted, because they are not.
DARBY: A voice has been heard in Rama, weeping, and great lamentation: Rachel weeping [for] her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
BLB: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and much mourning, Rachel weeping [for] her children; and she would not be comforted, because they are not.”

ÅB: «En stemme ble hørt i Rama; gråt og stor klage. Rakel gråt over barna sine og ville ikke la seg trøste, for de er ikke lengre til.»
OTB: “En røst ble hørt i Rama, klage og bitter gråt, Rakel gråter over sine barn og vil ikke la seg trøste, for de er ikke mer.”
B1930: En røst blev hørt i Rama, gråt og stor klage; Rakel gråt over sine barn og vilde ikke la sig trøste, for de er ikke mere til.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Jeremiah 31:15
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.”
Read in context
Jeremiah 9:17–21
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
Read in context
Jeremiah 4:31
For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child— the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”
Read in context
Genesis 35:16–20
Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.
Read in context
Ezekiel 2:10
which He unrolled before me. And written on the front and back of it were words of lamentation, mourning, and woe.
Read in context
Genesis 37:30
returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”
Read in context
Job 14:10
But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?
Read in context
Revelation 8:13
And as I observed, I heard an eagle flying overhead, calling in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the remaining three angels!”
Read in context