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.
KJV
φωνὴ ἐν Ῥαμὰ ἠκούσθη, κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὀδυρμὸς πολύς· Ῥαχὴλ κλαίουσα τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν παρακληθῆναι, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσίν.
Greek NT
Vox in Rama audita est ploratus, et ululatus multus : Rachel plorans filios suos, et noluit consolari, quia non sunt.
Vulgate
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.
ASV
A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
Douay-Rheims
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In this verse
In the original Greek
18 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.
Intertextual echoes
This verse quotes or alludes to 1 earlier text.
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Jer 31:15 · paraphrase"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: Rachel weeping for her children — massacre of innocents
Textual variants
1 variant unit attested by manuscript witnesses and modern critical editions.
- ἠκούσθη — SBLGNT
- ἠκούσθη — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
- + θρῆνος καὶ — Robinson-Pierpont
Historic Christian voices
5 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.
§530The flight into Egypt and the massacre of the innocents217 make manifest the opposition of darkness to the light: "He came to his own home, and his own people received him not."218 Christ's whole life was lived under the sign of persecution. His own share it with him.219 Jesus' departure from Egypt recalls the exodus and presents him as the definitive liberator of God's people.…
1. Do we then run and labor in vain? Are we sowing upon the rocks? Does the seed fall upon the rocks? Does the seed fall without our knowing it by the wayside, and among thorns? I am greatly troubled and fear, lest our husbandry be unprofitable; not as though I shall be a loser as well as you, touching the reward of this labor. For it is not with those who teach as it is with h…
Covers the domestic intrigues of Herod's court: the execution of his sons Alexander and Aristobulus, his paranoia, and the political dynamics of the Herodian family. This paranoid violence contextualizes the Massacre of the Innocents (Matt 2:16).
1. When Christ was born, according to the prophecies, in Bethlehem of Judea, at the time indicated, Herod was not a little disturbed by the enquiry of the magi who came from the east, asking where he who was born King of the Jews was to be found — for they had seen his star, and this was their reason for taking so long a journey; for they earnestly desired to worship the infant…
Cross-references
- Ezek 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.
- Gen 29:17 — Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.
- Gen 35:16 — And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.
- Gen 48:7 — And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the s
- Isa 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.
- Jer 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, s
- Jer 9:17 — 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:
- Jer 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.