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But though our ancestors received the law, they did not keep it and did not observe the statutes; yet the fruit of the law did not perish—for it could not, because it was yours.
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Yet those who received it perished, because they did not keep what had been sown in them.
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Now this is the general rule that, when the ground has received seed, or the sea a ship, or any dish food or drink, and when it comes about that what was sown or what was launched or what was put in is destroyed,
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they are destroyed, but the things that held them remain; yet with us it has not been so.
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For we who have received the law and sinned will perish, as well as our hearts that received it;
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the law, however, does not perish but survives in its glory."
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When I said these things in my heart, I looked around, 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.
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Then I dismissed the thoughts with which I had been engaged, and turned to her
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and said to her, "Why are you weeping, and why are you grieved at heart?"
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She said to me, "Let me alone, my lord, so that I may weep for myself and continue to mourn, for I am greatly embittered in spirit and deeply distressed."
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I said to her, "What has happened to you? Tell me."