29. O Lord, you did show yourself among us, to our fathers in the wilderness, when they went forth out of Egypt, and when they came into the wilderness, where no man treadeth and that bears no fruit;
30. and you did say, Hear me, you Israel; and mark my words, O seed of Jacob.
31. For, behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you, and you⌃ shall be glorified in it for ever.
32. But our fathers, which received the law, kept it not, and observed not the statutes: and the fruit of the law did not perish, neither could it, for it was your;
33. yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them.
34. And, behold, it is a custom, that when the ground has received seed, or the sea a ship, or any vessel meat or drink, and when it comes to pass that that which is sown, or that which is launched,
35. or the things which have been received, should come to an end, these come to an end, but the receptacles remain: yet with us it has not happened so.
36. For we that have received the law shall perish by sin, and our heart also which received it.
37. Notwithstanding the law perishes not, but remains in its honor.
38. And when I spoke these things in my heart, I looked about me with mine eyes, and upon the right side I saw a woman, and, behold, she mourned and wept with a loud voice, and was much grieved in mind, and her clothes were tore, and she had ashes upon her head.
39. Then let I my thoughts go wherein I was occupied, and turned me to her,
40. and said to her, Why do you weep? and why are you grieved in your mind?
41. And she said to me, Let me alone, my Lord, that I may bewail myself, and add to my sorrow, for I am sore vexed in my mind, and brought very low.
42. And I said to her, What aileth you? Tell me.
43. She said to me, I your servant was barren, and had no child, though I had a husband thirty years.
44. And every hour and every day these thirty years did I make my prayer to the Most High day and night.
45. And it came to pass after thirty years that God heard me your handmaid, and looked upon my low estate, and considered my trouble, and gave me a son: and I rejoiced in him greatly, I and my husband, and all my neighbors: and we gave great honor to the Mighty.