They will fight for themselves. Each nation fights for itself alone.
Are we still to be slaves? Shall Zedekiah be a king of slaves, and Zion remain in bondage to Chaldea? Were but Zedekiah a true king!
Silence, I command you. It befits not a boy to lay down the law for kings.
It is true that I am young; but who is Jerusalem, if it be not her young men? It was not the cautious elders who built Jerusalem. David, young David, established her towers, and made her great among the nations.
Hold your peace. You have no right to speak in the marketplace.
Shall only the cautious elders speak, none but the aged give counsel, that Israel may grow old before her time and God's word decay in our hearts? The moment is ours, and it is for us to take revenge. You have abased yourselves, and we will lift ourselves up; you have faltered, but we will bring fruition; you had peace, and we want war.
What do you know of war? We, the fathers, have known war. In books war is great, but in reality war is a destroyer, a ravisher of life.
I fear not war. Let us have done with slavery!
The oath matters nothing.--Let him break his oath.--No oath need be kept with the heathen.
[Exultant, coming from the street] Abimelech!--Hail Abimelech!--Abimelech, our leader!
[Groups crowd round ABIMELECH, the general, and acclaim him]
Abimelech!--Is it true that Egypt offers an alliance? Draw your sword.--Up, march against Ashur.--Gather Israel's forces.--We are ready.--We are ready.
[Speaks to the crowd from the top of the steps] Make ready, people of Jerusalem, for the hour of freedom is at hand.
Pharaoh-Necho has offered us the help of his armies. He wishes us to join him in breaking the might of Ashur, and we shall do it, people of Jerusalem.
On against Ashur.--War with Chaldea.--Hail Abimelech!
We shall drive them before us like sheep. They have grown soft in the houses of the women, and their king has never worn harness.
I say so. I have been in Babylon and I have seen Nebuchadnezzar. He is a mighty man of valor, and his soldiers have no equals.
Wretch, you praise our foes.--He is sold to the enemy.--His wife is a Chaldean.--She has gone a-whoring with all the men of Babylon.--Traitor!
[Approaching the speaker] Do you mean to say that we cannot beat them?