36
For we who have received the law and sinned will perish, as well as our heart which received it;
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the law, however, does not perish but remains in its glory."
38
When I said these things in my heart, I lifted up my eyes 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?"
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And she said to me, "Let me alone, my lord, that I may weep for myself and continue to mourn, for I am greatly embittered in spirit and deeply afflicted."
42
And I said to her, "What has happened to you? Tell me."
43
And she said to me, "Your servant was barren and had no child, though I lived with my husband thirty years.
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And every hour and every day during those thirty years I besought the Most High, night and day.
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And after thirty years God heard your handmaid, and looked upon my low estate, and considered my distress, and gave me a son. And I rejoiced greatly over him, I and my husband and all my neighbors; and we gave great glory to the Mighty One.
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And I brought him up with much care.