How can one sleep when the enemy is arrayed against us? My heart has been heavier than lead since I have been standing here; and yet I cannot leave. It seems as if I were forced to remain in the flood which is rising to overwhelm us. Last night and to-day the horsemen have been streaming across the plain. Again and again we thought that all must have come, but still there came more and yet more, as if whole countries had been emptied like sacks of grain; while the spears were as the stalks of the corn in number.

Another

Already have they pitched their tents, so that a white forest now stands in the valley.

A Third

Alas, they are settling down for the siege.

A Fourth

They must have come with the speed of the wind. Yesterday they were still at Bethel, and to-day they have already encircled Zion.

The First Man

Terrible is the might of Ashur. God help us all.

The Woman