2 Esdras 9:38-40

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

The Vision of a Weeping Woman

³⁸ When I said these things in my heart, I looked around,^[a] and on my right I saw a woman; she was mourning and weeping with a loud voice, and was deeply grieved at heart; her clothes were torn, and there were ashes on her head. ³⁹ Then I dismissed the thoughts with which I had been engaged, and turned to her ⁴⁰ and said to her, ‘Why are you weeping, and why are you grieved at heart?’