8
now because we all grieve, and be sorrowful because we are all sorrowful. But you are mourning only for one son!
9
Ask the earth, and she will tell you that she is the one who should mourn, since so many have sprouted upon her.
10
From her, from the beginning, all have been born and others will come. Look, nearly all go to ruin, and their multitude is doomed to destruction.
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Who then ought to mourn the more? Shouldn't she who has lost such a great multitude rather than you, who grieve for one?
12
Perhaps you say to me, ‘My lamentation isn't like that of the earth, because I lost the fruit of my womb, which I bore with pains and brought forth with sorrows.
13
The earth, however, is just following the way of the earth; the multitude that is present on it goes as it came.'
14
I would then say to you, ‘As you gave birth with grief, so also from the beginning the earth yielded its fruit, humanity, to him who made it.'
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Therefore, keep your grief to yourself, and bear valiantly whatever misfortunes befall you.
16
If you declare the decree of God to be just, you will receive your son back in due time and also be praised among women.
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Therefore, go into the city to your husband." She said to me,
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"I will not, and I will not go into the city, but I will die here."