It is Zephaniah, my son-in-law, whom we sent forth for news.
[He draws back the bolt, and a man enters, helmeted and garbed like a Chaldean. All rush towards him, Jeremiah alone remaining motionless]
Voices
What has happened?—Have you seen Neter, my son? Tebiah, my wife?—Have they burned down my house?—Where is the king?—What has happened to the temple? Do you know anything about my husband, Ishmael?—What is happening outside?
The Elder
Be silent all. Let Zephaniah speak, for he has seen the daylight and the city.
Better to sit in darkness than to see what I have seen; better still to weep oneself blind; even better were it to sleep among the roots of the trees and in the bowels of the earth. David’s city has become a city of the dead; the citadel of Solomon is utterly destroyed.
All
Alas, alas, for Jerusalem.