436 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSin Ramah. Hebrew berama. This term has long been a problem, largely be-
cause T translates not as a place-name, but rather as "in the height." The Ma-
soretes pointed the term berama, "on a height," since "Ramah" usually takes
the article-i.e., harama, "the Ramah" (cf. 40:1). Compare "the Bashan" in
Note for 22:20. Only in Neh 11:33 does the place-name Ramah occur without
the article. But the LXX and S read "Ramah" here, and so does Matt 2: 18,
which quotes the verse in connection with Herod's slaughter of infants in and
around Bethlehem at the time Jesus was born. It is a simple matter to repoint
the Hebrew to barama, "in (the) Ramah," which is what Duhm and Rudolph
do. Tsevat ( 1962), however, views any change in pointing with disfavor, com-
paring "a voice is heard on a height" with "a voice on the bare heights
(sepayfm) is heard" in 3:21. This is in line with Jewish interpretation of the
verse, which follows T and supports MT's berama. Jerome in the Vg also trans-
lates in excelsio ("on a height"), and Becking (1994b: 230) cites other ancient
Greek witnesses (GAS; Aq) that translate with en (te) hypsele, "in (the) height."
Non-Jewish commentators (except Holladay) read "Ramah," most of whom
argue in addition that Ramah is the location of Rachel's tomb and where her
weeping is now being heard (see below). Depending on the date of T, the LXX
and Matt 2:18 may preserve the oldest tradition. The terminus ad quern for Tar-
gum Jonathan is ca. A.D. 300 (Hayward 1987: 12; Zatelli 1991: 482), but the
work could contain accurate geographical information from an earlier period,
perhaps even from before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (Zatelli). The
T does not likely predate the LXX, and if it is later than Matthew, it could be
countering a reading in Matthew and the LXX text upon which that Gospel
rests. The Masoretic pointing of berama, probably following T, is much later.
Ramah has been identified either with er-Ram, about seven kilometers north
of Jerusalem, or Ramallah, about twelve kilometers north (see Note for 40: 1).
bitterest weeping. Hebrew bekf tamrurfm, lit., "weeping of bitterness." In 6:26
people are told to prepare for "bitterest mourning" (mispad tamrurfm), as one
does for the loss of an only son.
Rachel is weeping over her sons; she refuses to be comforted over her sons, be-
cause they are not. Rachel, wife of the patriarch Jacob and mother of Joseph
and Benjamin (Gen 30:22-24; 35:16-20), is the ancestress of Northern Israel.
In giving birth to Benjamin, Rachel died and was buried somewhere between
Bethel and Ephrath, the latter said to be Bethlehem (Gen 35:16-20; 48:7). We
last see Rachel, suffering in hard labor, and then in a final motherly act, nam-
ing her son Ben->onf, "Son of my sorrow." Now again the voice of Rachel is
heard, this time weeping over her sons (=the people of the tribes of Joseph and
Benjamin) who have been carried off into exile (vv 16b-l 7). The portrayal has
stirred generations. The text here does not say that Rachel is weeping at the site
of her tomb, but this assumption has nevertheless been made. Cuneiform texts
in the British Museum give evidence for an ancient belief that mothers who
died in childbirth became weeping ghosts (E. Burrows 1926-27: 185). Burrows
says that Jeremiah may therefore be alluding to a popular belief in a weeping
mother whose voice is heard around Ramah. Folk beliefs of a similar nature