This is the 4th reference to the old testament in Matthew...
17 Then that was fulfilled which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
18 A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and much wailing; it was Rachel weeping for her children, and she was unwilling to take comfort, because they are no more (Matthew 2).
JEREMIAH CHAPTER 30
1 The word that occurred to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying:
2 This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, 'Write for yourself in a book all the words that I will speak to you.
3 For, look! there are days coming, is the utterance of Jehovah, and I will gather the captive ones of my people, Israel and Judah, Jehovah has said, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they will certainly repossess it.'
4 And these are the words that Jehovah has spoken to Israel and to Judah.
5 For this is what Jehovah has said: The sound of trembling we have heard, dread, and there is no peace.
6 Ask, please, Oh men, and see whether a male is giving birth. Why is it that I have seen every able-bodied man with his hands upon his loins like a female that is giving birth, and all faces have turned pale?
7 Alas! For that day is a great one, so that there is no other like it, and it is the time of distress for Jacob. But he will be saved even out of it.
8 And it must occur in that day, is the utterance of Jehovah of armies, that I shall break one's yoke from off your neck, and your bands I shall tear in 2, and no more will strangers exploit him as a servant.
9 And they will certainly serve Jehovah their God and David their king, whom I shall raise up for them [a son of David is still David in this thinking].
10 And as for you, do not be afraid, Oh my servant Jacob, is the utterance of Jehovah, and do not be struck with terror, Oh Israel. For here I am saving you from far off and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will certainly return and be free of disturbance and be at ease, and there will be no one causing trembling.
11 For I am with you, is the utterance of Jehovah, to save you; but I shall make an extermination among all the nations to which I have scattered you. However, in your case I shall make no extermination.
And I shall have to correct you to the proper degree, as I shall by no means leave you unpunished.
12 For this is what Jehovah has said: There is no cure for your breakdown. Your stroke is chronic.
13 There is no one pleading your cause, for [your] ulcer. There are no means of healing, no mending, for you.
14 All those intensely loving you are the ones that have forgotten you. You are not the one for whom they keep searching.
For with the stroke of an enemy I have struck you, with the chastisement of someone cruel, on account of the abundance of your error; your sins have become numerous.
15 Why do you cry out on account of your breakdown? Your pain is incurable on account of the abundance of your error;
your sins have become numerous. I have done these things to you.
16 Therefore all those devouring you will themselves be devoured; and as for all your adversaries, into captivity they will all of them go. And those pillaging you will certainly come to be for pillaging, and all those plundering you I shall give over to plundering.
17 For I shall bring up a recuperation for you, and from your strokes I shall heal you, is the utterance of Jehovah. For a woman chased away is what they called you: 'That is Zion, for whom no one is searching.'
18 This is what Jehovah has said: Here I am gathering the captive ones of the tents of Jacob, and for his tabernacles I shall have pity. And the city will actually be rebuilt upon her mound; and upon its rightful site the dwelling tower itself will sit.
19 And from them there will certainly go forth thanksgiving, and the sound of those who are laughing. And I will multiply them, and they will not become few; and I will make them heavy in number, and they will not become insignificant.
20 And his sons must become as in former times, and before me his own assembly will be firmly established. And I will turn my attention upon all his oppressors.
21 And his majestic one will certainly come to be from him, and from the midst of him his own ruler will go forth; and I will cause him to come near, and he must approach to me. For who, now, is this one that has given his heart in pledge in order to approach to me? is the utterance of Jehovah.
22 And you will certainly become my people,
and I myself shall become your God.
23 Look! A windstorm of Jehovah, rage itself,
has gone forth, an onward-sweeping tempest. Upon the head of the wicked ones it will whirl.
24 The burning anger of Jehovah will not turn back until he will have executed and until he will have carried out the ideas of his heart. In the final part of the days you people will give your consideration to it.
JEREMIAH CHAPTER 31
1 At that time, is the utterance of Jehovah,
I shall become God to all the families of Israel; and as for them, they will become my people.
2 This is what Jehovah has said: The people made up of survivors from the sword found favor in the wilderness, when Israel was walking to get his repose [in the promised land. God is comparing the exile in Babylon with the 40 year walk in the wilderness].
3 From far away Jehovah himself appeared to me [in a dream whilst I was asleep - see verse 26], [saying:] And with a love to time indefinite I have loved you.
That is why I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
4 Yet shall I rebuild you and you will actually be rebuilt, Oh virgin of Israel [virgin as in maiden as in dependent one. The nation is likened through metaphor to a young girl dependent upon her father]. You will yet deck yourself with your tambourines and actually go forth in the dance of those who are laughing.
5 You will yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria. The planters will certainly plant and start to use [them].
6 For there exists a day when the lookouts in the mountainous region of Ephraim will actually call out, 'Rise up, Oh men, and let us go up to Zion, to Jehovah our God.'
7 For this is what Jehovah has said: Cry out loudly to Jacob with rejoicing, and cry shrilly at the head of nations. Publish [it]. Give praise and say, 'Save, Oh Jehovah, your people, the remnant of Israel.'
8 Here I am bringing them from the land of the north, and I will collect them together from the remotest parts of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the one giving birth, all together. As a great congregation they will return here.
9 With weeping they will come, and with [their] entreaties for favor I shall bring them. I shall make them walk to torrent valleys of water, in a right way in which they will not be caused to stumble. For I have become to Israel a Father; and as for Ephraim, he is my firstborn.
10 Hear the word of Jehovah, Oh you nations,
and tell [it] among the islands far away, and say: The One scattering Israel will himself collect him together, and he will certainly keep him as a shepherd does his drove.
11 For Jehovah will actually redeem Jacob and reclaim him out of the hand of the one stronger than he is.
12 And they will certainly come and cry out joyfully on the height of Zion and become radiant over the goodness of Jehovah,
over the grain and over the new wine and over the oil and over the young ones of the flock and the cattle. And their soul will simply become like a well-watered garden, and no more will they languish again.
13 At that time the virgin will rejoice in the dance, also the young men and the old men, all together. And I will change their mourning into exultation, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice away from their grief.
14 And I will saturate the soul of the priests with fatness, and with my goodness my own people will become satisfied,
is the utterance of Jehovah.
15 This is what Jehovah has said, 'In Ramah [Ramah of Benjamin, 15 km north Bethlehem. Jeremiah 40:1 shows that the Judaeans were led captive into Babylon from there. Hence the weeping at that time in 586 BC.
Matthew 2:18 though applies this to Herod killing the infants in Bethlehem.
Evidently some daughters of Rachel were living in Ramah of Benjamin at the time of the infanticide of Herod. Certainly Matthew is referring to a further meaning, the word symbolic meaning. So these two chapters Jeremiah 30-31, which include the new covenant, have a further meaning, which means there is a second new covenant] a voice is being heard, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping over her sons. She has refused to be comforted over her sons, because they are no more.'
16 This is what Jehovah has said: 'Hold back your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there exists a reward for your activity,' is the utterance of Jehovah, 'and they will certainly return from the land of the enemy.'
17 'And there exists a hope for your future,'
is the utterance of Jehovah, 'and the sons will certainly return to their own territory.'
18 I have positively heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, 'You have corrected me, that I may be corrected, like a calf that has not been trained. Cause me to turn back, and I shall readily turn back, for you are Jehovah my God.
19 For after my turning back I felt regret;
and after my being led to know I made a slap upon the thigh. I became ashamed,
and I also felt humiliated, for I had carried the reproach of my youth.'
20 Is Ephraim a precious son to me, or a fondly treated child? For to the extent of my speaking against him I shall without fail remember him further. That is why my intestines have become boisterous for him. By all means I shall have pity upon him, is the utterance of Jehovah.
21 Set up road marks for yourself. Place signposts for yourself. Fix your heart upon the highway, the way that you will have to go. Come back, Oh virgin of Israel. Come back to these cities of yours.
22 How long will you turn this way and that,
Oh unfaithful daughter? For Jehovah has created a new thing in the earth: A mere female will press around an able-bodied man [due to the lack of males].
23 This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said: They will yet say this word in the land of Judah and in his cities, when I shall gather their captives, 'May Jehovah bless you, Oh righteous dwelling place, Oh holy mountain.'
24 And in it Judah and all his cities will certainly dwell all together, farmers and those who have set out with the drove.
25 For I will saturate the tired soul, and every languishing soul I will fill.
26 At this thing I awoke and began to see;
and as for my sleep, it had been pleasurable to me.
27 Look! There are days coming, is the utterance of Jehovah, and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of domestic animal [literally the kingdom houses of Judah and Israel will be sown through the exiles and their animals being returned by Jehovah] [word symbolically there are at least two 'days' of spirit baptism and at least two 'days' of water baptism for the worship houses of Judah and Israel. These were the into the 1NC, the ELC, the 1EC and the 2EC. Two Christian churches and two spirit baptisms for the sons of Israel by worship house]
28 And it must occur that just as I had kept alert toward them to uproot and to pull down and to tear down and to destroy and to do damage, so I shall keep alert toward them to build up and to plant, is the utterance of Jehovah.
29 In those days they will no more say, 'The fathers were the ones that ate the unripe grape, but it was the teeth of the sons that got set on edge.'
30 But it will be each one for his own error that one will die. Any man eating the unripe grape, his will be the teeth that will be set on edge.
31 Look! There are days coming, is the utterance of Jehovah, and I will conclude with the house of Israel [at the Passover on 35Nisan14 after the Samaritan call into the 1NC in 34Shebat] and with the house of Judah a new covenant [at the Passover on 33Nisan14 after the Reuben call to the house of Israel to come into the 1NC on 29Tishri15-22, followed by the baptism in spirit of Peter on 29Heshvan22];
32 not one like the covenant that I concluded with their forefathers in the day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt [the law covenant], 'which covenant of mine they themselves broke, although I myself had husbandly ownership of them,' is the utterance of Jehovah.
33 For this is the covenant [the ELC] that I shall conclude with the house of Israel [those who worship or worshipped in Samaria] after those days, is the utterance of Jehovah [the ELC was first made with the Samaritans, then with the Gentiles]. I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become their God,
and they themselves will become my people.
34 And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, 'Know Jehovah!' for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them, is the utterance of Jehovah. For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more.
35 This is what Jehovah, the Giver of the sun for light by day, the statutes of the moon and the stars for light by night, the One stirring up the sea that its waves may become boisterous, the One whose name is Jehovah of armies, has said:
36 'If these regulations could be removed from before me,' is the utterance of Jehovah, 'those who are the seed of Israel could likewise cease from proving to be a nation before me always.'
37 This is what Jehovah has said: 'If the heavens up above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below could be searched out, I myself also could reject the entire seed of Israel on account of all that they have done,' is the utterance of Jehovah.
38 Look! There are days coming, is the utterance of Jehovah, and the city will certainly be built to Jehovah from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
39 And the line for measurement will yet actually go forth straight ahead to the hill of Gareb, and it will certainly go around to Goah.
40 And all the low plain of the carcasses and of the fatty ashes, and all the terraces as far as the torrent valley of Kidron,
clear to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the sunrising, will be something holy to Jehovah. It will not be uprooted, neither will it be torn down anymore to time indefinite.