2 Esdras 9:38-40

Revised Standard Version

The Vision of a Weeping Woman

³⁸ When I said these things in my heart, I lifted up my eyes^[a] and saw a woman on my right, and behold, she was mourning and weeping with a loud voice, and was deeply grieved at heart, and her clothes were rent, 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?”