William Knox's "A voice comes from Ramah" is a deeply reflective scriptural paraphrase designed for contexts of grief and bereavement. The hymn first appeared in his collection, Songs of Israel, in 1824. Formatted in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each, the text is a direct poetic interpretation of Jeremiah 31:15-16, bearing the explicit title "Rachel Weeping."
The hymn was later preserved in his posthumous volume, Poems (1847), where it occupied pages 117 and 118.
Outside of Knox's own collections, the text found its way into broader liturgical use when it was adopted by Benjamin Hall Kennedy for his 1863 anthology, Hymnologia Christiana. Listed as Number 197 in that collection, the editors introduced slight textual alterations to better adapt the verses for congregational singing.
The poetry of William Knox. Source: Scottish Poetry Library
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