Then was fulfilled contrasts with “to fulfil” of 1.22 and 2.15. In 2.23 the subjunctive form (“might be fulfilled”) is employed. Good News Translation translates Then was fulfilled as “In this way … came true.” Other ways that could be used are “Then came true what…” or “And so what the prophet Jeremiah said would happen took place.”

The quotation in verse 18 is from Jeremiah 31.15. Scholars debate whether it is a translation of the Hebrew rather than taken from the Septuagint, or whether the author cites the passage from his memory of the Septuagint text, or whether Matthew quotes a source completely different from either the Hebrew we have or the Septuagint. Scholarly opinion is clearly divided, and no dogmatic conclusion is possible. One may only surmise that Matthew felt a great deal of freedom in his choice and use of Old Testament texts, as did, in fact, most writers at that time.

What was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah is made into an active construction by Good News Translation: “what the prophet Jeremiah had said.” The full meaning is “what the Lord had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah,” and some translators use a sentence very much like that. Although “the Lord” is not in the text, it is clearly understood (see comments in 1.22 on “prophets”). A possible translation for this verse, then, is “And so took place what God had said through the prophet Jeremiah would happen.” This may be better in many languages if the order is reversed: “God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah about what would happen. And now it came true like this.”

It may be necessary in some languages to introduce the quotation in verse 18 with “He said” or “This is what he had said.”

Ramah is an Ephraimite town about eight miles north of Jerusalem (see Judges 19.13 and 1 Sam 1.1). In some languages it may be helpful to say “the town of Ramah.”

Voice may be “the voice of someone,” “someone crying,” or as in Good News Translation, “sound.”

In many languages the passive, A voice was heard, is better handled by an active sentence, as in “People heard a voice,” or “People heard the voice of someone crying,” or “There is a sound coming from Ramah.”

Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, and Ephraim was Joseph’s son. The picture in Jeremiah 31.15 is that of the Ephraimites (Rachel’s descendants) going into exile in Babylon.

Wailing and loud lamentation is compressed by Good News Translation to “the sound of bitter weeping.” The reference is to Rachel’s weeping for her children, as the next line makes clear. Radical restructuring may be necessary in order to make evident the relation between all the parts:

“The sound of bitter crying is heard in the town of Ramah.
It is Rachel, crying for her children.
They are dead,
and she refuses to be comforted.”

But other structures can work, too. Some translators will be able to make clear the relation between voice (or, “sound”) and wailing and loud lamentation in two lines, as there are in the text. For example, they might have:

“People heard a voice in Ramah;
it was someone crying bitterly.”

or:

“People heard the voice of someone crying in Ramah;
they heard bitter weeping there.”

or:

“There is a sound coming from the town of Ramah;
the sound of someone weeping bitterly.”

Rachel weeping may be introduced, then, by a phrase such as “It is Rachel,” or “What they hear is Rachel,” or “The crying is coming from Rachel. She is weeping for her children.”

She refused to be consoled: “She refuses to be comforted,” “She cannot be comforted,” or “There is no one who can comfort her.”

Because they were no more means “they are dead” (Good News Translation). Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition and Translator’s New Testament also indicate explicitly that death is intended, while most translations prefer to remain ambiguous; for example, “because they were gone” (An American Translation).

There are different ways languages mark the causal relationship seen in because. Some will put the phrase at the end, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, and use “because,” “for,” “the reason was that they are dead,” or something similar. Other languages will find it more natural to put this clause first, as in our example above: “They are dead, and she refuses to be comforted” or “They are dead. That is why she refuses to be comforted.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .