Zedekiah
[Passionately] Hold your peace. Your words are past bearing. But a few grains of sand have run through the hour glass, and already you rail against one another. We do not meet to discuss what it is fitting we should render unto God. We meet to consider our pressing need, and how we can relieve it. We are in the throes of war, and to you therefore I turn first for counsel, Abimelech, general of my army.
Abimelech
Stout are the walls of Jerusalem, O King, but stouter still is my heart.
Zedekiah
And your men, old stalwart; are they, too, stout-hearted? Rarely do I hear them raise exultant cries. When I pass among them, no longer do they strike their shields. They turn away their faces.
Abimelech
War makes men silent, but it steels their hearts. No longer, indeed, do they shout with delight, for that they can use their swords freely. Custom stales all joys. But they watch and wait; strong as brass are they, guarding the walls of Jerusalem.
Zedekiah
But what if the moons still wax and wane; what if the second year of the siege begins? There is no help coming from outside.