31:15 The Lord says,
“A sound is heard in Ramah, 1
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.” 2
7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; 3
your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. 4
12:7 The wicked are overthrown 5 and perish, 6
but the righteous household 7 will stand.
49:20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement
will say within your hearing,
‘This place is too cramped for us, 8
make room for us so we can live here.’ 9
49:21 Then you will think to yourself, 10
‘Who bore these children for me?
I was bereaved and barren,
dismissed and divorced. 11
Who raised these children?
Look, I was left all alone;
where did these children come from?’”
49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;
I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.
They will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
1 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
2 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.
3 sn The meaning of the verse is that God will relent, but it will be too late. God now sees him with a hostile eye; when he looks for him, or looks upon him in friendliness, it will be too late.
4 tn This verse is omitted in the LXX and so by several commentators. But the verb שׁוּר (shur, “turn, return”) is so characteristic of Job (10 times) that the verse seems appropriate here.
5 sn This proverb is about the stability of the righteous in times of trouble. The term “overthrown” might allude to Gen 19:21.
6 tn Heb “and they are not.”
7 tn Heb “the house of the righteous.” The genitive צַדִּיקִים (tsadiqim) functions as an attributive adjective: “righteous house.” The noun בֵּית (bet, “house”) functions as a synecdoche of container (= house) for the contents (= family, household; perhaps household possessions). Cf. NCV “a good person’s family”; NLT “the children of the godly.”
8 tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.
9 tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”
10 tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”
11 tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”