2 Esdras 9:38-40

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

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.^{(A) 39} Then I dismissed the thoughts with which I had been engaged and turned to her^{(B) 40} and said to her, “Why are you weeping, and why are you grieved at heart?”