At Jeremiah 31:15, we read: “This is what Jehovah says: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel is weeping over her sons. She has refused to be comforted over her sons, because they are no more.’”

In any case, Jeremiah’s expression concerning Rachel’s weeping over her sons was prophetic of what happened centuries later when the life of young Jesus was in danger. King Herod commanded that all the boys up to two years old in Bethlehem, which was on the south side of Jerusalem, be put to death. Thus, those sons were no more; they were dead. Imagine the cries of grief from the mothers bereft of their sons! It was as if those cries could be heard as far as Ramah, on the north side of Jerusalem.​—Matt. 2:16-18.

Consequently, both in Jeremiah’s time and in Jesus’ time, Rachel’s weeping over her sons was fitting language to express the grief of Jewish mothers over their slain children. Of course, those who died and went to “the land of the enemy” death may return from the grip of that enemy when the dead are resurrected.​—Jer. 31:16; 1 Cor. 15:26.