2 Esdras 9:31-42
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31 For, behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you, and ye shall be honoured in it for ever.
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32 But our fathers, which received the law, kept it not, and observed not thy ordinances: and though the fruit of thy law did not perish, neither could it, for it was thine;
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33 Yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them.
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34 And, lo, it ls a custom, when the ground hath received seed, or the sea a ship, or any vessel meat or drink, that, that being perished wherein it was sown or cast into,
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35 That thing also which was sown, or cast therein, or received, doth perish, and remaineth not with us: but with us it hath not happened so.
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36 For we that have received the law perish by sin, and our heart also which received it
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37 Notwithstanding the law perisheth not, but remaineth in his force.
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38 And when I spake these things in my heart, I looked back with mine eyes, and upon the right side I saw a woman, and, behold, she mourned and wept with a loud voice, and was much grieved in heart, and her clothes were rent, and she had ashes upon her head.
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39 Then let I my thoughts go that I was in, and turned me unto her,
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40 And said unto her, Wherefore weepest thou? why art thou so grieved in thy mind?
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41 And she said unto me, Sir, let me alone, that I may bewail myself, and add unto my sorrow, for I am sore vexed in my mind, and brought very low.
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42 And I said unto her, What aileth thee? tell me.