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13 Then the young girls will dance in their happiness,
    and the old and the young men will rejoice.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
    I will comfort them
    and replace their sorrow with joy.
14 I will strengthen my priests with choice food,
    and my people will be overwhelmed with my lavish gifts,
    says the Lord.

No More Mourning

15 Thus says the Lord:
    A voice is heard in Ramah
    marked by lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is mourning for her children,
    and she refuses to be consoled
    because they are no more.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 31:15 In Ramah, which lay between Benjamin and Ephraim, that is, in the land of the descendants of Rachel, Jacob’s wife (Gen 35:24; 41:51), a caravan of deportees to Babylon will be formed (Jer 40:1), a moving image of the common mother who mourns for the children snatched from her. Matthew the evangelist would later use it in reference to the children slain at Bethlehem (Mt 2:17-18).

13 Then young women will dance and be glad,
    young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning(A) into gladness;
    I will give them comfort(B) and joy(C) instead of sorrow.
14 I will satisfy(D) the priests(E) with abundance,
    and my people will be filled with my bounty,(F)
declares the Lord.

15 This is what the Lord says:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,(G)
    mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,(H)
    because they are no more.”(I)

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