She gave him the roll he asked.
"But thou," he began reading—"’but thou, Bethlehem Ephrath, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.’—This was he, the very child Balthasar saw and worshipped in the cave. Believest thou the prophets, O my master?—Give me, Esther, the words of Jeremiah."
Receiving that roll, he read as before, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. As a king he shall reign—as a king, O my master! Believest thou the prophets?—Now, daughter, the roll of the sayings of that son of Judah in whom there was no blemish."
She gave him the Book of Daniel.
"Hear, my master," he said: "’I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven. . . . And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.’—Believest thou the prophets, O my master?"
"It is enough. I believe," cried Ben-Hur.
"What then?" asked Simonides. "If the King come poor, will not my master, of his abundance, give him help?"
"Help him? To the last shekel and the last breath. But why speak of his coming poor?"
"Give me, Esther, the word of the Lord as it came to Zechariah," said Simonides.
She gave him one of the rolls.
"Hear how the King will enter Jerusalem." Then he read, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. . . . Behold, thy King cometh unto thee with justice and salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass."
Ben-Hur looked away.
