, Hananiah the official prophet who prophesies falsely in
order to inflame the passion of the people, incite the crowd to frenzy.
Young Baruch is one of the most violent among those who clamour for war.
Jeremiah resists the stream of fury. He condemns the war. He is
immediately charged with having been bought by Chaldean gold. Hananiah,
the false prophet, sings the praises of "the holy war, the war of God."

JEREMIAH. Do not bring God's name into the war. Men make war, not God.
No war is holy; no death is holy; life alone is holy.

BARUCH. Thou liest, thou liest! Life is given us solely that we may
sacrifice it to God.

The crowd is carried away by the hope of an easy victory. A woman spits
upon Jeremiah the pacifist. Jeremiah curses her.

JEREMIAH. Cursed be the man who thirsts for blood! But seven times
cursed be the woman who thirsts for war. War will devour the fruit of
her body.

His violence is terrifying. He is charged to hold his peace. He refuses,
for Jerusalem is within him, and Jerusalem does not wish to die.

JEREMIAH. The walls of Jerusalem stand erect in my heart, and they do
not wish to fall.... Safeguard peace!

The fickle crowd, despite itself, is being swayed by his words, when
General Abimelech returns in a fury. He has just left the king's
council, where a majority has voted against the alliance with Egypt. In
his wrath, he has thrown away his sword. Young Israel, through the voice
of Baruch, acclaims him as a national hero. The high priest blesses him.
Hananiah, prophet and demagogue, fires the crowd to flock to the palace
that they may force the king to declare war. Jeremiah tries to stop the
yelling mob. He is knocked down. Young Baruch strikes him with a sword.
The crowd passes on.

But Baruch, appalled, stays with his victim, staunches the blood which
flows from the wound, and begs for pardon. Jeremiah, helped to his feet,
thinks only of rejoining the maddened crowd, to cry his message of
peace. This inviolable energy astounds Baruch, who had regarded as a
coward anyone who should condemn action or preach peace.

JEREMIAH. Dost thou imagine that peace is not action, that peace is not
the action of all actions? Day by day thou shouldst wrest it from the
mouth of the liars and from the heart of the crowd. Thou shouldst stand
alone against all.... Those who desire peace are for ever fighting.

Baruch is overcome.

BARUCH. I believe in thee, for I have seen thy blood poured forth for
th