Jeremiah 31:15-20

Amplified Bible

¹⁵
Thus says the Lord,
“A ^[a]voice is heard in Ramah,
Lamentation (songs of mourning) and bitter weeping.
Rachel (Israel) is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are gone.”^(A)

¹⁶Thus says the Lord,

“Restrain your voice from weeping
And your eyes from tears,
For your work will be rewarded,” says the Lord;
“And your children will return from the enemy’s land.
¹⁷
“There is [confident] hope for your future,” says the Lord;
“Your children will come back to their own country.
¹⁸
“I have surely heard Ephraim (Israel) moaning and grieving,
‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like a bull unaccustomed to the yoke or an untrained calf;
Bring me back that I may be restored,
For You are the Lord my God.
¹⁹
‘After I turned away [from You], I repented;
After I was instructed, I struck my thigh [in remorse];
I was ashamed and even humiliated
Because I carried the disgrace of my youth [as a nation].’
²⁰
“Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a darling and beloved child?
For as often as I have spoken against him,
I certainly still remember him.
Therefore My affection is renewed and My heart longs for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,” says the Lord.

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 31:15 The mourning at Ramah is associated with the cry of the mothers of the boy babies and toddlers of Bethlehem who would be killed by Herod the Great during his attempt to destroy young Jesus (Matt 2:17, 18). Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife, was the mother of Joseph (Gen 35:24). The tribes descended from Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were the most powerful in the Northern Kingdom.