On, on! I must look Terror in the face. [He gazes down into the valley, standing motionless and silent]
[Still gazing] The king has come, the king from the north. [He seizes BARUCH'S sleeve] Come closer, Baruch! Touch my hand that I may know whether I wake or sleep. Are my eyes open? Is this wall builded of stones or of tears? Does Jerusalem lie behind us unheeding in the darkness? Are the forces of Ashur couched in the plain beneath? Tell me, Baruch, convince me that I am dreaming. Shake me till I awake, to laugh at my mad fancy that Zion is encircled by the Chaldeans.
What do you mean, master? I don't understand. How can you doubt?
Alas, it is true, then. I am not dreaming now. The horses are there and the chariots; Ashur is arrayed against Zion; the vision is fulfilled. All these miseries spring from my dreams, for they existed in me before they were in the world of reality. I alone knew, before ever God's words became deeds. In me they arose; through me they came. Yet naught can I do to hinder their flow; nor by sword nor by shield can I stay their progress.
Master, you talk at random. Speak in words that I can believe and understand.
Words that you can believe? But Baruch will you believe the words that I have to say to you at this hour beneath the stars? I fear you will deny me, will laugh at me, for what I would fain say will sound like nonsense in your ears.
Hearken, then. [He speaks low and impressively] All that is now happening, I have beheld in my dreams for months past. Not a star shines in heaven which I have not seen above this wall and above God's temple. I have looked down upon the multitude of the foe, upon their myriad tents. Baruch, do you hear me?
Why was all this made plain to me before the day? It cannot be against God's will that he should disclose his plans to me, should vouchsafe me visions of the future. Nor can I rebel; nor can I be silent; though in truth for long I refused the summons, and stopped my ears to the call. But now, when I see in the real world what has again and again been revealed to me in dreams, for the first time do I feel assured that God speaks through me. I say to you, Baruch, that I am the chosen of the Lord. Woe unto me should I conceal my forebodings from the people and from the king. For this is no more than the beginning, and I know the end.