31:15 The Lord says,
“A sound is heard in Ramah, 13
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.” 14
5:7 Our forefathers 15 sinned and are dead, 16
but we 17 suffer 18 their punishment. 19
2:16 When Herod 20 saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men 21 to kill all the children in Bethlehem 22 and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.
2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud wailing, 23
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she did not want to be comforted, because they were 24 gone.” 25
1 tn Heb “is not.”
2 tn Heb “is not.”
3 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.
6 sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.
7 tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.
8 tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.
9 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”
11 tn Heb “went forth from me.”
12 tn Heb “and his heart was numb.” Jacob was stunned by the unbelievable news and was unable to respond.
13 sn Ramah is a town in Benjamin approximately five miles (8 km) north of Jerusalem. It was on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem. Traditionally, Rachel’s tomb was located near there at a place called Zelzah (1 Sam 10:2). Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin and was very concerned about having children because she was barren (Gen 30:1-2) and went to great lengths to have them (Gen 30:3, 14-15, 22-24). She was the grandmother of Ephraim and Manasseh which were two of the major tribes in northern Israel. Here Rachel is viewed metaphorically as weeping for her “children,” the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, who had been carried away into captivity in 722
14 tn Or “gone into exile” (cf. v. 16), though some English versions take this as meaning “dead” (e.g., NCV, CEV, NLT), presumably in light of Matt 2:18.
15 tn Heb “fathers,” but here the term also refers to “forefathers,” i.e., more distant ancestors.
16 tn Heb “and are no more.”
17 tc The Kethib is written אֲנַחְנוּ (’anakhnu, “we”) but the Qere reads וַאֲנַחְנוּ (va’anakhnu, “but we”). The Qere is supported by many medieval Hebrew
18 tn Heb “so we bear.”
19 tn Heb “their iniquities.” The noun עָוֹן (’avon) has a broad range of meanings, including: (1) iniquity, (2) guilt of iniquity, and (3) consequence or punishment for iniquity (cause-effect metonymical relation). The context suggests that “punishment for sin” is most appropriate here (e.g., Gen 4:13; 19:15; Exod 28:38, 43; Lev 5:1, 17; 7:18; 10:17; 16:22; 17:16; 19:8; 20:17, 19; 22:16; 26:39, 41, 43; Num 5:31; 14:34; 18:1, 23; 30:15; 1 Sam 25:24; 28:10; 2 Sam 14:9; 2 Kgs 7:9; Job 10:14; Pss 31:11; 69:28; 106:43; Prov 5:22; Isa 5:18; 30:13; 40:2; 53:6, 11; 64:5, 6; Jer 51:6; Lam 4:22; 5:7; Ezek 4:4-6, 17; 7:16; 14:10; 18:19-20; 21:30, 34; 24:23; 32:27; 35:5; 39:23; 44:10, 12).
20 sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Note the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the angel in 2:13.
21 tn Or “soldiers.”
22 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
23 tc The LXX of Jer 38:15 (31:15 ET) has “lamentation, weeping, and loud wailing”; most later
24 tn Grk “are”; the Greek text uses a present tense verb.
25 sn A quotation from Jer 31:15.