Quotes

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[holding Baby Moses in her arms] You will be the glory of Egypt, my son. Mighty in words and deeds. Kings shall bow before you. Your name will live on when the pyramids are dust. And...because I drew you from the water, you shall be called Moses. [playfully and quietly] Moses! Moses! [giggles]

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Miriam: But Mother, we have not even given him a name. Yochabel: God will give him a name.

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Memnet: What have you found? Bithiah: The answer to my prayers! Memnet: You prayed for a basket? Bithiah: No, I prayed for a son. Memnet: Your husband is in the house of the dead. Bithiah: And he has asked the Nile God to bring me this beautiful boy.

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Memnet: [about the Hebrew cloth Moses lies in] Do you know the pattern of this cloth? Bithiah: If my son is wrapped in it, it is a royal robe!

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Moses: Great one, I bring you Ethiopia. [Trumpets play, Ethiopians step forward] Rameses: Command them to kneel before Pharaoh. Moses: Command what you have conquered my brother.

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Announcer: The Lord Moses, Prince of Egypt, son of the Pharaoh's sister, beloved of the Nile god, commander of the Southern Host! Egyptian 1: Welcome home! Egyptian 2: Prince Moses! Jannes: The blessing of the god Amun-Ra be upon you, Great Prince! He has brought down the pride of Ethiopia. Yes, that is... Seti: [as Jannes continues on] The old windbag. Nefretiri: I agree with him.

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Seti: Would you please your Pharaoh, Moses? Moses: Your wish is my will. Seti: Then you build the city Rameses: A wise decision. [to Moses] Noble task. Seti: Rameses, do you believe this slave deliverer is a myth? Rameses: What I believe is of no account. What matters is the slaves believe in him. Seti: Of course, of course. Then you, too, shall go to Goshen. Learn if this deliverer be a myth or a man. If a myth, bring him to me in a bottle. If a man, bring him to me in chains. Rameses: So let it be written, so let it be done.

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Nefretiri: You will be king of Egypt and I will be your footstool! Moses: The man stupid enough to use you as a footstool isn't wise enough to rule Egypt.

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Yochabel: My noble one, it caught. I had not the strength to free myself. Moses: Your shoulder should not bear a burden, old woman. [begins cutting her loose] Yochabel: The Lord has renewed my strength and lightened my burdens. Moses: He would have done better to remove them.

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Baka: We use the old ones for greasing the stones. If they are killed it is no loss. Moses: Are you a master builder or a master butcher? Baka: If we stop moving stones for every grease woman who falls, the city will not rise. Overseer: If the slaves are not driven they will not work. Joshua: If their work lags it is because they are not fed. Moses: You look strong enough. Joshua: I am a stone cutter. The pharaoh likes his images cut deep.

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Moses: You know it is death to strike an Egyptian. Joshua: I know it. Moses: Yet you struck him. Why? Joshua: To save the old woman. Moses: What is she to you? Joshua: An old woman. Egyptian Guard: Lord Moses, send him to his death! Moses: The man has courage. You do not speak like a slave. Joshua: God made man. Man made slaves. Moses: Which god? Joshua: The God of Abraham, the Almighty God! Moses: If your God is Almighty, why does He leave you in bondage? Joshua: He will choose the hour of our freedom and the man who will deliver us!

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Rameses: Difficulty with the slaves, my brother? Moses: None that could not be cures by a ration of grain and a day of rest. Rameses: A day of rest? Moses: When your horses tire, they're rested. When they hunger, they're fed. Rameses: Slaves draw brick and stone. My horses draw the next Pharaoh. Moses: Is there any grain stored here in Goshen? Rameses: None that you would dare take, my brother. Joshua: The temple granaries are full. Moses: [to Joshua] Bring the push-pole men and some women with baskets. Joshua: I will...great prince. Rameses: I warn you, Moses, the temple grain belongs to the gods. Moses: What the gods can digest will not sour in the belly of a slave.

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Seti: Do you mean to tell me he would turn the slaves against me? I've been his father! Jannes: Ambition knows no father.

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Rameses: I know you, my sweet. You're a sharp-clawed, treacherous little peacock. But you're food for the gods, and I'm going to have all of you. Nefretiri: None of me. Did you think my kiss was a promise of what you'll have? No, my pompous one, it was to let you know what you will not have. I could never love you. Rameses: Does that matter? You will be my wife. You will come to me whenever I call you. And I will enjoy that very much. Whether you enjoy it or not is your own affair. But I think you will. [He leaves; Nefretiri wipes her lips in disgust]

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Seti: With so many slaves, you could build…an army. Moses: But I have built a city. Sixteen of these lions of Pharaoh will guard its gates. And it shall be the city of Seti's glory. Seti: Mm. Are these slaves loyal to Seti's glory, or to you, Moses? Moses: The slaves worship their God, and I serve only you.

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Baka: Will you lose a throne because Moses builds a city? Rameses: The city that he builds shall bear my name. The woman that he loves shall bear my child. So it shall be written, so it shall be done.

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Bithiah: You know who I am? Yochabel: It has been many years, Great One. Bithiah: Who are they? Yochabel: All that remain of my children. Bithiah: I will speak to you alone. [Both Miriam and Aaron walk into the same room] Yochabel: Why have you... [Bithiah waves her hand meaning "stop" and closes the door] Why have you come here? Bithiah: Because Moses will come here. Yochabel: My son? Bithiah: No, my son. And that's all that he must know. Yochabel: My lips might deny him, Great One, but my eye never could. Bithiah: You shall leave Goshen, you and your family, tonight. Yochabel: We are Levites, appointed shepherds of Israel. We cannot leave our people. Bithiah: Would you take from Moses all that I have given him? Would you undo all that I have done for him? I have put the throne of Egypt within his reach. What can you give him in its place? Yochabel: I gave him life. Bithiah: I gave him love! Was it your hand that dried his tears? And when he was troubled, was it your heart that ached

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Moses: That's a hard dance you do, old man. Old Man: We've been dancing it for 400 years... [a whips cracks in the background followed by a low moan] ...to grim music.

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Baka: You make no outcry, Joshua, but you will; you will cry for the mercy of death. Joshua: One day you will listen to the cry of slaves. Baka: This is not that day, Joshua.

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Nefretiri: If you want to help your people, come back to the palace. Moses: And hide the truth from Seti, that I am Hebrew and a slave? Nefretiri: The truth would break his dear old heart, and send Bithiah into exile and death. Think of us and stop hearing the cries of your people. Moses: Their god does not hear their cry. Nefretiri: Will Rameses hear it, if he is made Pharaoh? No, he would grind them into the clay they mold and double their labors. And what about me? Think of me as his wife. Do you want to see me in Rameses' arms? Moses: No! Nefretiri: Then come back with me.

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Rameses: Where was his body found? Pentaur: Buried in the sand, Royal One. Egyptian Guard: This is Baka's knife. Rameses: But there was no wound on the body. Baka was a powerful man. It would take strong hands to break him. Egyptian Guard: The slave Joshua is a stonecutter. Rameses: Go find me this Joshua. Dathan: Joshua's strength didn't kill the master builder. Rameses: Now speaks the rat that would be my ears. Dathan: Too many ears tie a rat's tongue. Pentaur: [to guards] Go, all of you. Rameses: Well...who killed him? Dathan: I am a poor man, Generous One. What I bring is worth much. Rameses: I have paid you much, and you have brought me nothing. Dathan: Now I bring you the world...true son of Pharaoh. Rameses: You offer me the world when you cannot even bring me the deliverer. Who killed Baka? Dathan: The deliverer. Rameses: Would you play at words with me? Dathan: No, Lord Prince. Rameses: And this murderer has now fled to some distant land? Dathan: No, Lord Prince. Rameses: Name

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Moses: Great Pharaoh...I stand in the shadow of your justice. Seti: Whose work is this? Rameses: I warned you of his treason, my father. Judge now if I spoke truly. The evil star foretold him as the destroyer of Egypt and deliverer of slaves. Seti: It is not possible. A prince of Egypt? Rameses: He is not a prince of Egypt. He is not the son of your sister. He is the son of Hebrew slaves. [The crowd is shocked] Seti: Speak...my son. Moses: I am the son of Amram and Yochabel, Hebrew slaves. [The crowd is shocked again] Bithiah: My brother, it was I who deceived you, not Moses. He was only a child. Seti: Leave me. I shall not see your face again. [Rameses orders Pentaur to take Bithiah away from him; to Moses] Moses...come to me. [Moses approaches him] I do not care who you are or what you are or what they may say about you, but I want to hear from your own lips that you are not a traitor, that you would not lead these people in revolt against me. Tell me, Moses. I will believe you. Mose

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Moses: At such a time, has any man ever gone to see Him face to face? Sephora: No man has ever set foot on the forbidden slopes of Sinai. Why do you want to see Him, Moses? Moses: To know that He is. And if He is, to know why He has not heard the cries of slaves in bondage. Sephora: Moses, it would be death to look upon His face. Moses: How many of my people have died because He has turned away His face? Sephora: Can a man judge God? No, Moses. We cannot see His whole purpose. Even Ishmael did not know that God drove him into the desert to be the father of a nation. Is it not enough to know that He had saved you from the Pharaoh's anger? Moses: How do you know that? Sephora: You walk like a prince. And you fight like a warrior. And there is word in the caravans of a great one who was driven out of Egypt. Moses: This is not the scepter of a prince, but the staff of a wanderer. Sephora: Then rest from wandering. My father has many flocks and no son to tend them. There would be peace of s

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Egyptian Guard: May the gods bless you, as you go to join them in the land of the dead. Seti: The old windbag. What an infernal fuss. After all, dying is only a part of living. Nefretiri: You won't die, old crocodile. You'll cheat death the way you cheat me at hounds and jackals. Seti: I'm afraid he won't let me cheat the way you do. [gives the staff to Rameses] You'll be Pharaoh by sunset, Rameses. I hope you're content...at last. Rameses: I am content to be your son. You have restored Egypt to her greatness. I shall make her greatness feared among nations. Seti: No doubt, no doubt. You can overcome anything...but your own arrogance. Nefretiri: Don't exhaust yourself, Great One. Dear Great One. Seti: Why not, kitten? You are the only thing I regret leaving. You have been my joy. Nefretiri: And you my only love. Seti: Aha. Now you're cheating. There was another. Nefretiri: Yes. Seti: [last words] I know. I loved him, too. With my last breath, I'll break my own law and speak the name of

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Voice: [barely audible] Moses...[louder] Moses... Moses: I am here. Voice: Put off thy shoes from off thy feet. For the place where art thou stands is holy ground. [Moses takes off his sandals] I am the God of thy Father. The God of Abraham, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob. Moses: Lord...Lord, why do You not hear the cries of their children in the bondage of Egypt? God: I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Therefore, I will send thee, Moses, onto Pharoah. That thou mayst bring My people out of Egypt. Moses: Who am I, Lord, that You should send me? How can I lead these people out of bondage? What words can I speak that they will heed? God: I will teach thee what thou will say. When thou has brought forth the people, they shall serve Me upon this mountain. I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. Now, therefore, go. And I will be wit

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Moses: I stood upon holy ground. Joshua: Can you tell us, Moses? Moses: My eyes could not look upon Him. Joshua: Did He speak? Moses: He revealed His word to my mind, and the word was God. Joshua: Did He speak as a man? Moses: He is not flesh, but spirit. The light of eternal mind, and I know that His light is in every man. Joshua: Did He ask something of you? Moses: That I go to Egypt. Joshua: You are God's messenger! He has set the day of deliverance. I will get water and bread that we may leave at once. Sephora: But Egypt holds death for you. Moses: If it be His will. Sephora: Where He sends you, I shall go. Your God is my God. Joshua: I will lead men against the armory at Migdol and get swords for the people! Moses: It is not by the sword that He will deliver His people, but by the staff of a shepherd.

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Nefretiri: But beauty of the spirit will not free your people, Moses. You will come to me or they will never leave Egypt. Moses: The fate of Israel is not in your hands, Nefretiri. [turns and walks away] Nefretiri: [blocking his exit] Oh, isn't it? Who else can soften Pharaoh's heart? Or harden it? Moses:: [takes hold of her jaw] Yes. You may be the lovely dust through which God will work His purpose.

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Moses: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before God? Rameses: If you bring another plague upon us, it is not your God but I, who will turn the Nile red with blood. Moses: As your father's father turned the streets of Goshen red with the blood of our male children! IF there IS one more plague on Egypt, it is by your word that God will bring it. And there shall be so great a cry throughout the land...that you will surely let the people go. [walks away] Rameses: Come to me no more, Moses! For on the day you see my face again, you will surely die! Moses: So let it be written. [leaves] Rameses: [enraged] I will give this spawn of slaves and his god an answer the world will not forget! Commander of the Host, call in the chariots from Tanis! There shall be one more plague, only it will come upon the slaves of Goshen. The firstborn of each house shall die, beginning with the son of Moses!

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Nefretiri: You need have no fear of me. Sephora: I feared only his memory of you. Nefretiri: You have been able to erase it? Sephora: He has forgotten both of us. You lost him when he went to seek his God. I lost him when he found his God.

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Moses: It is not my son who will die, it is...it is the firstborn of Egypt. It is your son, Nefretiri! Nefretiri: [shocked] You...You would not dare strike Pharaoh's son! Moses: In the hardness of his heart, Pharaoh has mocked God and brings death to his own son! Nefretiri: But he is my son, Moses. You would not harm my son. Moses: By myself, I am nothing. It is the power of God which uses me to work His will. Nefretiri: But I saved your son! Moses: I cannot save yours.

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Miriam: Death is all around us! Joshua: But it passes those who have believed the Lord. Moses: Always remember, Eleazar, He passed over your house.

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Rameses: You have conquered, Moses. The foot of a slave is on the neck of Egypt. You were saved from the Nile to be a curse upon me. Your shadow fell between me and my father, between me and my fame, between me and my queen. Your shadow now fills all things with death. Go out from among us, you and your people. I set you free. Moses: It is not by your word, nor by my hand that we are free, Pharaoh. The power of God has freed us. Rameses: Enough of your words! Take your people, your cattle, your God and your pestilence! [throws his collar to the ground] Take what spoils from Egypt you will, but go!

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Nefretiri: How many more days and nights will you pray? Does he hear you? Rameses: Dread Lord of Darkness, I have raised my voice to you, yet life has not come to the body of my son. Hear me! Nefretiri: He cannot hear you. He's nothing but a piece of stone with the head of a bird. Rameses: He will hear me. I am Egypt. Nefretiri: Egypt? You are nothing. You let Moses kill my son. No god can bring him back. What have you done to Moses? How did he die? Did he cry for mercy when you tortured him? Bring me to his body! I want to see it, Rameses! I want to see it! Rameses: This is my son. He would have been Pharaoh. He would have ruled the world. Who mourns him now? Not even you. All you can think of is Moses. You will not see his body. I drove him out of Egypt. I cannot fight the power of his God. Nefretiri: His God? The priests say that Pharaoh is a god. But you are not a god. You are even less than a man! Listen to me, Rameses. You thought I was evil when I went to Moses. And you were rig

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Nefretiri: [bringing Rameses his sword] Bring it back to me, stained with his blood. Rameses: I will. [takes the sword and sheathes it] To mingle with your own!

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Moses: Thou didst blow with Thy wind, [kneels to the ground and Miriam kisses the hem of his robe] and the sea covered them. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord. From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God! [The Hebrews, with their arms on the air, others falling on their knees in prayer, shouts the prayer of thanksgiving and deliverance] Crowds: THOU ART GOD!

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Nefretiri: Before you strike, show me his blood on your sword. [lowering his arm, Rameses tosses the sword down and sits] You couldn't even kill him. Rameses: His god...is God.

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Joshua: The light of God shines you, Moses. [kneels] Moses: Do not kneel to me, Joshua. Joshua: These tablets of living stone? Moses: The writing of God...His Ten Commandments. [Suddenly, faint sounds of debauchery are heard] Joshua: There is a noise of war in the camp! Moses: It is not the noise of war. It is the noise of song and revelry. [leads downhill] [At the camp, the Hebrews continually indulging the excess of drunken pleasure and debauchery as Moses arrives above them. Then Joshua blows a shattering blast of his shofar, the dancing, the music, and the sounds of the timbrel stopped. The Hebrews look up to see Moses and Joshua on the mount] Crowds: It's Moses! Moses! Moses! [On Aaron's tent hope is renewed to the Women who stood firm and Sephora looks at Moses offscreen] Sephora: Moses! Moses! Lilia: [on the calf, her lips breaks to a cry] Joshua! Moses: Woe unto thee, O Israel! You have sinned a great sin in the sight of God! You are not worthy to receive these Ten Commandments

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Moses: The Lord was angry with me because I disobeyed Him by the waters of strife. And He said unto me, "Behold the new land with thine eyes, for thou shalt not cross over this River Jordan". Sephora: Then I shall stay. Moses: I am called by the Lord, Sephora. I go alone. Sephora: Look, Moses. The people have come to the River Jordan. In the ark, they carry the law you brought them. You taught them not to live by bread alone. You are God's torch that lights the way to freedom. I love you. Moses: Joshua. [gives the staff and the Levite cloth to Joshua] Joshua, I charge you and strengthen you, for you shall go over Jordan to lead the people. Joshua: As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. Moses: Mered, give me the books. Eleazar, set these five books in the Ark of the Covenant by the tablets of the Ten Commandments, which the Lord restored unto us. [bids farewell] Go, proclaim liberty throughout all the lands, unto all the inhabitants thereof! [walks away to the top of Mount Neb