I am not silent in this foul hole while the voice of Jesus is heard on the battlefield. I am not to be held nor confined while He is free.
They tell me the vipers are coiling round His loins, but I answer: The vipers shall awaken His strength, and He shall crush them with His heel.
I am only the thunder of His lightning. Though I spoke first, His was the word and the purpose.
They caught me unwarned. Perhaps they will lay hands on Him also. Yet not before He has pronounced His word in full. And He shall overcome them.
His chariot shall pass over them, and the hoofs of His horses shall trample them, and He shall be triumphant.
They shall go forth with lance and sword, but He shall meet them with the power of the Spirit.
His blood shall run upon the earth, but they themselves shall know the wounds and the pain thereof, and they shall be baptized in their tears until they are cleansed of their sins.
Their legions shall march towards His cities with rams of iron, but on their way they shall be drowned in the River Jordan.
And His walls and His towers shall rise higher, and the shields of His warriors shall shine brighter in the sun.
They say I am in league with Him, and that our design is to urge the people to rise and revolt against the kingdom of Judea.
I answer, and would that I had flames for words: if they deem this pit of iniquity a kingdom, let it fall into destruction and be no more. Let it go the way Sodom and Gomorrah, and let this race be forgotten by God, and this land be turned to ashes.
Aye, behind these prison walls I am indeed an ally to Jesus of Nazareth, and He shall lead my armies, horse and foot. And I myself, though a captain, am not worthy to loose the strings of His sandals.
Go to Him and repeat my words, and then in my name beg Him for comfort and blessing.
I shall not be here long. At night ’twixt waking and waking I feel slow feet with measured steps treading above this body. And when I hearken, I hear the rain falling upon my grave.
Go to Jesus, and say that John of Kedron whose soul is filled with shadows and then emptied again, prays for Him, while the grave-digger stands close by, and the swordman outstretches his hand for his wages.