Matthew 2:16-18

Living Bible

¹⁶Herod was furious when he learned that the astrologers had disobeyed him. Sending soldiers to Bethlehem, he ordered them to kill every baby boy two years old and under, both in the town and on the nearby farms, for the astrologers had told him the star first appeared to them two years before. ¹⁷This brutal action of Herod’s fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah,

18 “Screams of anguish come from Ramah,[a]
Weeping unrestrained;
Rachel weeping for her children,
Uncomforted—
For they are dead.”

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Footnotes

Matthew 2:18 Ramah, or “the region of Ramah.”

Matthew 2:16-18

New International Version

¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:^(A)

¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel^(B) weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”^[a]^(C)