Matthew 2:18-20

Amplified Bible

¹⁸
“A voice was heard in ^[a]Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning,
^[b]Rachel weeping for her children;
She refused to be comforted,
Because they were no more.”^(A)

¹⁹But when ^[c]Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, ²⁰“Get up! Take the Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.”

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Footnotes

Matthew 2:18 Ramah was located five miles north of Jerusalem, this city was a staging point for the deportation of Jews to Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 b.c.
Matthew 2:18 A reference to Jacob’s (Israel’s) wife Rachel as the mother of the children of Israel. Here, her grief over the slaughter of babies by Herod parallels the grief of Israel when they were conquered and deported by the Babylonians. The image is that of Rachel weeping for the children of Israel from her grave. Matthew takes Jeremiah’s words, which originally referred to grief over Babylonian captivity, and applies them to Herod’s slaughter of the babies.
Matthew 2:19 Herod the Great died sometime between March 29 and April 11, 4 b.c.