Jeremiah Part 56

Crucify him!--Let him taste the death he yearns for.--He is our enemy.--Crucify him.--Stone him!

[At this moment a number of fugitives rush into the marketplace in wild disorder, throwing away their weapons as they run]

FUGITIVES

The walls are down.--The enemy is in the city. The Chaldeans have gained the day.--Israel is lost.

MORE FUGITIVES

Abimelech is slain.--All is lost.--Jerusalem is fallen.

YET MORE FUGITIVES

[In full flight] They are hard on our heels.--To the temple.--All is lost.--Israel! Israel.--Alas for Jerusalem.

[The crowd joins the fugitives, uttering shrieks of terror. JEREMIAH is forgotten. The whole city seems to ring with cries of despair and the noise of vain attempts at flight]

THE CONVERSION

SCENE EIGHT

My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end. JOB x.x.xIV, 36.

SCENE EIGHT

A vast crypt with shutters and doors closed so that the damp underground s.p.a.ce is but dimly lighted. Fugitives, wan and careworn, are crouching and lying on the stone flooring. Some of them have gathered round an elder who is reading from the scriptures. In the background lies a wounded man, tended by a woman. Remote from the rest, sitting on a piece of masonry, and as motionless as if he were himself carved out of the rock, is JEREMIAH, his face buried in his hands. He plays no part in what is going on, so that his silence is as it were a rock fixed in the current of plaints and disputes. It is evening, on the day after the taking of Jerusalem. As the elder reads, he sways his body rhythmically in time to the words, which are low and monotonous, except when he raises his voice to express despair or hope. From time to time, the others take up the responses.

THE ELDER

[Reading] Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, s.h.i.+ne forth! Stir up thy strength!

THE OTHERS

[Murmuring in unison] s.h.i.+ne forth! Stir up thy strength!

THE ELDER

[Reading] Give ear, O Shepherd, come and save us.

Cause thy face to s.h.i.+ne, and we shall be saved.

How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

Thou feedest them with the bread of tears, And givest them tears to drink in great measure.

O G.o.d of hosts, Cause thy face to s.h.i.+ne, and we shall be saved.

THE OTHERS

Cause thy face to s.h.i.+ne, and we shall be saved.

THE ELDER

[Reading] O remember not against us former iniquities; Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: For we are brought very low.

We are consumed by thine anger, And by thy wrath we are troubled.

Remember not against us our former iniquities.

Remember thy covenant, remember thy name.

Appear, Shepherd, lead thy flock home; s.h.i.+ne forth! Stir up thy strength!

THE OTHERS

s.h.i.+ne forth! Stir up thy strength!

OTHER VOICES

[Joining in fervently] Cause thy face to s.h.i.+ne, and we shall be saved.

THE WOUNDED MAN

[Who has. .h.i.therto been moaning, now bursts into a loud cry] Oh, oh, I am burning. Water! Water!

THE WOMAN

[Trying to soothe him] Be quiet, there's a good man. For G.o.d's sake, be quiet, or they will hear us.

THE ELDER

Be silent! Control yourself, or you will destroy us all.

ANOTHER

They will slay us if they find us.

THE WOUNDED MAN

Let them kill me. I cannot bear it. My wound is on fire. Water! Water!

A MAN

We must silence him. His cries will betray our hiding place.

THE WOMAN