Zedekiah still alive?--Why spare him more than another?--He has betrayed us.--Why show him mercy when all the rest have been butchered?--Why spare him?

ZEPHANIAH

Honor the king! Reverence his sufferings.

VOICES

What has happened to him?--Is he a prisoner?

ZEPHANIAH

Zedekiah forced his way through, with sixty of the bravest who hoped to renew the struggle against Ashur in the hills. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued him and overtook him in the plains, and carried him to King Nebuchadnezzar.

VOICES

And then?

ZEPHANIAH

My path crossed his. I saw him in the square bound with fetters of bra.s.s. Before his eyes, one by one, his sons were put to the sword. Then came it to pa.s.s that the anointed of the Lord was blinded ...

JEREMIAH

[Suddenly roused from his impa.s.sivity and speaking in horror-stricken tones] Blinded, you say? Blinded?

ZEPHANIAH

Who is this?

VOICES

Do not speak to him.--Do not look at him.--He is the most infamous of men.--A curse lies on him.--Utter not his name.--Utter not his name.

ZEPHANIAH

Who is it that spake, saying "Blinded?" I am sure I know the voice.

VOICES

Ask not his name.--He is one accurst.--He is rejected of G.o.d.

A WOMAN

He is the curse of G.o.d, sent for our burning torment. He is the scourge of G.o.d.--Jeremiah, Jeremiah!

ZEPHANIAH

[With a wild outcry, stretching forth his hands as if to thrust away something horrible] Jeremiah!

JEREMIAH

Why do you shrink from me? What are you afraid of? There is no longer any reason for fear. My words were but wind; my force is spent. Spew me out, and go on your way.

ZEPHANIAH

I tremble before you, man of doom.--He foresaw everything. He alone.

That other called on his name.

THE ELDER

Who called on his name?

ZEPHANIAH

[Utterly crushed] Zedekiah, the king. They brought him in chains, held him fast lest he should turn away his head, forced him to watch the slaughter of his sons. Fain would he have made no complaint. He bit his lip and was silent as the first fell. But when they seized the second, he moved as if to speak. As the third was struck down, a word escaped from his mouth. Not a plea for mercy. He cried, "Jeremiah, Jeremiah."

[All shudder]

Thus in his anguish he called upon Jeremiah. When the fiery steel pierced his eyes, again did he call on the name of Jeremiah, saying: "Jeremiah, Jeremiah, where art thou, revealer? Where art thou, Jeremiah, my brother?" Zedekiah called upon his name, the name of him who had foreseen.

[They shrink away from JEREMIAH, as from a dangerous beast]

JEREMIAH

[Struggling with emotion] It is false. Not by my will did this happen.

Let him not dare to accuse me. The word came to me; what I said was struck from me as we strike fire from flint. I wished him no ill. G.o.d made me a liar, resist his power as I would. Not mine the will that moved me.

ZEPHANIAH

What is he talking about?

A WOMAN

Madness hath seized him.

ANOTHER WOMAN

He raves.

A MAN

Nay, he foretold these happenings. A sage is he, and a prophet.

JEREMIAH

Why should the king accuse me? A greater power than mine constrained my utterance. I was the tool of the pitiless one, his breath, the slave of his malice. He commanded, and I had to obey, for his strength is greater than mine. He breathed curses into my breath. His was the gall in my speech, his the bitterness in my spittle. Woe upon the hands of G.o.d; whom he seizes, shall not again be loosed. Ah, would he but set me free from his curse, that no longer I might have to speak his words. [A pause] No longer will I speak his words. I will hold my peace. [A pause]

G.o.d! No longer will I obey thy behests. I curse thy curses. Lift thy hand from me, take the fire from my mouth. No more can I bear.

VOICES