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"Most foolish of all women, don't you see our grief and what has befallen us?
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Zion the mother of us all is afflicted in sadness and utterly dejected. Grieve mightily
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now because we all grieve, and be sorrowful because we are all sorrowful. But you are mourning only for one son!
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Ask the earth, and she will tell you that she is the one who should mourn, since so many have sprouted upon her.
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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?
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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.
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The earth, however, is just following the way of the earth; the multitude that is present on it goes as it came.'
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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.
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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.