[Still mounting the steps, flees before him, repelling Baruch with his hands] Say not that I am chosen. Tempt me not! For Israel’s sake, for Jerusalem’s sake, it is impossible that my words can be true. Far better for me to bear the laughter and the scorn of the people, than that this message of terror should be fulfilled. Rather let me be proved liar and fool, than the prophet of such a truth. May I be thy victim Lord, and not this city. Let me disappear into the darkness of oblivion, if thy towers may still shine, O Jerusalem. May my words vanish like smoke, so long as thou endurest, eternal city. God forget me, if he will but remember thee. I will kneel before his altar praying him to give me the lie; I will beseech him to prove my message false. Pray with me, Baruch, that I be known for a liar in Jerusalem.
[Jeremiah, humbly bending his head, goes up the last steps into the porch of pillars of the temple. Without moving, Baruch gazes after him until he disappears]
THE WATCH ON THE RAMPARTS
Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: … When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman, … if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, and the sword come, and take any person from among them, … his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. Ezekiel XXXIII, 1–6.
On the ramparts of Jerusalem. The walls, of hewn stone, surround the town. In the background is the starry sky, and faint in the distance the valley with hazy outlines and lights twinkling here and there. The masonry shines in the moonlight. On the wall two sentries march up and down. Their faces are shadowed by their helmets; their spears gleam as they move. Though the hour is late and midnight approaches, a few civilians have ventured on to the wall and are looking out into the distance.
A Woman
It is bedtime. You will see the wretches soon enough in the morning. Do come home; this may be our last quiet night.
A Man