And the Lord said unto Moses,
"Go. Return into Egypt. "
And Moses took his wife and his son
and he returned to the land of Egypt.
And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
Let the ambassador from Priam, king of Troy, approach the Pharaoh.
Great Pharaoh, the gift of Troy is a fabulous fabric
from the land of the five rivers.
Our thanks to Priam. It is fabulous indeed.
- It shimmers like the Nile. - How is it made?
No one knows. It is spun on the looms of the gods.
They call it silk.
The ambassador from Jericho.
What kingdom has sent you?
The kingdom of the Most High.
- What gifts do you bring? - We bring you the word of God.
What is this word?
Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel,
"Let my people go!"
The slaves are mine.
Their lives are mine. All that they own is mine.
I do not know your God,
nor will I let Israel go.
Who are you to make their lives bitter in bondage?
Men shall be ruled by law, not the will of other men.
Who is this God that I should let your people go?
Aaron.
Cast down my staff before Pharaoh
that he may see the power of God.
In this you shall know that the Lord is God.
Mother! He turned his staff into a cobra!
Nothing of HIS will harm you, my son.
The power of your God is a cheap magician's trick.
Jannes.
Mother, look!
Jannes, do you see?
Moses' serpent swallows up the others.
You gave me this staff to rule over scorpions and serpents,
but God made it a rod to rule over kings.
Hear his word, Rameses, and obey.
Obey?
Are there no magicians in Egypt
that you have come back to make serpents out of sticks?
Or cause rabbits to appear?
I will give your staff a greater wonder to perform.
Bear it before your idle people
and bid them make bricks without straw.
- How can that be done? - Let his staff provide them.
Or let them glean straw for themselves.
But their tally of bricks shall not diminish.
So let it be written. So let it be done.
Aaron. Aaron, when do we leave Egypt?
We do not leave Egypt.
But Moses promised us.
But you said we'd be freed!
I have brought more evil upon you.
God forgive my weak use of his strength.
Moses, what have you done to us?
It is Pharaoh's order that you be given no straw
to make your tally of bricks.
No straw?
How can we make bricks without straw?
You will glean the fields by night.
Your women and children, too.
Is this the deliverer?
You've brought the wrath of Pharaoh upon us!
You put a sword in their hands!
Stone him! Stone him!
Stand aside! Come!
Follow!
There goes your deliverer. Now go find your straw.
Remember the tally must be the same. Not one brick less.
I cursed you.
Each time Rameses took me in his arms I cursed you, not him,
because I love you.
The Moses who loved you was another man.
No, he was not.
You believe you've changed, but you haven't.
You call yourself a prophet, a man of God,
but I know better.
I don't believe only the thunder of a mountain stirs your heart,
as you stir mine.
Nefretiri, I have stood in the burning light of God's own presence.
It was not he who saved you just now. I did that.
Oh, Moses, Moses.
Why, of all men, did I fall in love with the prince of fools?
But I believe anything you tell me when I'm in your arms.
Why must you deny me and yourself?
Because I am bound to a God
and to a people and to a shepherd girl.
A shepherd girl? What can she be to you?
Unless the desert sun has dulled your senses.
Does she... grate garlic on her skin?
Or is it soft as mine?
Are her lips chafed and dry as the desert sand?
Or are they moist and red like a pomegranate?
Is it the fragrance of myrrh that scents her hair?
Or is it the odour of sheep?
There is a beauty beyond the senses, Nefretiri.
Beauty like the quiet of green valleys and still waters.
Beauty whose spirit you cannot understand.
Perhaps not.
But beauty of the spirit will not free your people, Moses.
YOU will come to me or THEY will never leave Egypt.
The fate of Israel is not in your hands, Nefretiri.
Oh, isn't it? Who else can soften Pharaoh's heart?
Or harden it?
Yes.
You may be the lovely dust
through which God will work his purpose.
Fill every jar with water.
For seven days there will be none to drink.
- But this well has never run dry. - And the river is high.
- Whose word is that? - One who knows.
So fill your jars or go thirsty.
- Miriam is always right. - Yes, I'm going back for more jars.
Yes, Joshua. She comes to the well every day.
Wait and you will see her.
It is wise of Dathan to send you to the well, Lilia,
or he might find his water poisoned.
They told me you were dead.
To all I love, Joshua, I am dead.
- Dathan? - Yes. Dathan.
Of your own free will?
Of my own free will.
You are no man's slave. The hour of deliverance has come.
Not for me, Joshua.
Hail to thee, great god of the Nile!
Thy waters are the blood of Egypt.
Hail to thee, maker of barley,
feeder of cattle, carrier of ships,
greatest of all the gods.
Pharaoh of Egypt! You have not yet obeyed the Lord.
Let my people go!
The point of the sword...
Let him rave that men shall know him mad.
Obey the Lord
or he will raise his hand against the waters of the river.
I have come to bless the waters, you have come to curse them.
We will learn if a shepherd god is stronger than the gods of Pharaoh.
Water of life, give drink to the desert
and make green the meadow.
Aaron.
Stretch out my staff against the waters.
Look!
Where he's touched the river, it bleeds.
The water turns to blood!
Blood flows from the god!
See how it spreads.
It IS blood!
That you may know the power of the Lord,
for seven days, Egypt will thirst.
- Seven days without water! - Pestilence will be everywhere!
Were it seven times seven days,
no magician's trick will set your people free.
Sacred water, make pure the flood from which you came.
And God smote the land with all manner of plagues,
but still Pharaoh's heart was hardened.
Great one, you hear the cry of Egypt.
They would cry louder if THEY had to make the bricks.
Send them away.
The people have been plagued by thirst,
by frogs, by lice, by flies.
They can endure no more.
Why do you bring this worker of evil before me?
The people desert the temples and turn from the gods.
What gods? You prophets and priests MADE the gods,
that you may prey upon the fears of men.
When the Nile ran red, I too was afraid...
until word came of a mountain beyond the cataracts
which spewed red mud and poisoned the water.
Was it the staff that caused this?
Was it the wonder of your god that fish died and frogs left the water?
Was it a miracle that flies and lice
should bloat upon their carrion and spread disease?
These things were ordered by themselves, not by any god!
Now go.
That you may know these things are done of God...
you shall see hail fall from a clear sky
and burn as fire upon the ground.
You shall see darkness cover Egypt
when the sun climbs high to noon.
And you shall know that God is God
and bow down to his will.
Nothing of this Earth can make me bow to you, Moses.
Behold, the hail comes.
When darkness has covered Egypt for three days,
your ministers will send for me.
In the three days of darkness,
you have whined like frightened children in the night.
Moses said the sun would shine in three days and it is true.
Let his people go,
or Egypt will be barren from the cataracts to the sea.
Will my father free the slaves?
Can taxes be collected from blighted harvests?
Does fear rule Egypt... or do I?
We fear no army of the Earth,
but can we fight plagues with swords?
There is no shame in this.
It is not Pharaoh who yields to the slave,
but his counsellors.
I have summoned Moses at your request.
People will bless you, great one.
Does the world bow to an empty throne?
Empty?
Does a Pharaoh harden his heart against his son?
If you let the Hebrews go, who will build HIS cities?
You told Moses to make bricks without straw.
Now HE tells YOU to make cities without bricks!
Who is the slave... and who is the Pharaoh?
Do you hear laughter, Rameses?
Yes, the laughter of kings
in Babylon, in Canaan,
in Troy...
as Egypt surrenders to the god of slaves!
Bring the Hebrew in.
Go into the garden. It's not good for a son of Pharaoh
to see his father humbled by a son of slaves.
My son, stand beside me.
Have the days of darkness made you see the light, Rameses?
Will you now free my people?
Great one, bid the scribe read the order.
Give me the writing.
You cannot resist the power of his god!
I know not his god! Neither will I let his people go.
How long will you refuse to humble yourself before God?
If you bring another plague upon us,
it is not your god but I
who will turn the Nile red with blood.
As your father's father did
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.
Come to me no more, Moses,
for on the day you see my face again,
you will surely die.
So let it be written.
I will give this spawn of slaves
and his god an answer the world will not forget!
Commander of the Host,
call on the chariots from Talis.
There SHALL be one more plague...
only it will come upon the slaves of Goshen!
First-born of each house shall die,
beginning with the son of Moses.
You are the shepherd girl that Moses married?
The queen of Egypt IS beautiful... as he told me.
My husband is not here.
Is this Moses' son?
Yes, this is our son.
What do you want of us?
You need have no fear of me.
I feared only his memory of you.
You have been able to erase it?
He has forgotten both of us.
You lost him when he went to seek his god.
I lost him when he found his god.
At least he left you a son to cherish.
I am here to save his son.
From what?
From Pharaoh's decree
that the first-born of Israel must die.
Die?
God of Abraham!
Don't let him do this! Not to the children!
A caravan for Midian awaits you and your son.
My chariot will take you to it.
I'm surprised you noticed me.
You didn't at the palace this morning.
Why? Were you afraid to look at me?
What do you want, Nefretiri?
You, Moses. Everything about us is coming to an end!
You will destroy Egypt or Egypt will destroy you.
I belong to you, Moses.
She's gone with your son to Midian.
Why did she leave?
She knew you'd try to save the other children before your own son.
From what?
Rameses is massing the Libyan axemen, the chariots, Sardinian swordsmen.
Why? Tell me why!
To destroy the first-born of Israel.
Oh, God!
My God! Out of his own mouth comes thy judgement!
But I have saved your son!
It is not my son who will die!
It is the first-born of Egypt! YOUR son, Nefretiri!
You would not dare strike Pharaoh's son!
In the hardness of his heart, Pharaoh brings death to his own son!
But he's MY son, Moses. You would not harm MY son?
I, myself, am nothing. God's power uses me to work his will.
You would not let him do this to me.
I saved YOUR son.
I cannot save yours.
Your god listens to you, Moses.
About midnight, the destroyer will come into the midst of Egypt
and all the first-born shall die,
from the first-born of Pharaoh
to the first-born of his servants.
When you were Prince of Egypt, you held me in your arms.
When you were a condemned slave,
I threw myself at your feet before the court of Pharaoh.
Because I loved you, Moses.
It is the Lord who executes judgement, Nefretiri.
Go back to your son.
Your love for me is stronger than the power of any god.
You will not kill my son.
Turn from thy fierce wrath, O Lord!
Death cometh to me
To set me free
Death cometh to me...
No, Lilia, death will not come to you.
Joshua!
Joshua, you risk your life in coming here.
- You are first-born. - So are you.
I bring lamb's blood to mark the doorposts and lintel...
that the Angel of Death may pass you by.
Joshua, it is enough that you have come to me.
I am outcast among our people.
Don't save me from death, Joshua, save me from life.
Tomorrow will bring a new world.
No! And no blood on this door!
Dathan, it will save her life! Moses has God's promise!
Moses has words, Pharaoh has spears.
Remember, Joshua, of her own free will she's mine.
He shall cover thee with his feathers
And under his wing shalt thou trust
"Though we stand in the shadow of death,
"the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. "
"The Lord is one. "
His truth shall be thy shield...
"Shield us through this night of terror, O King of the Universe. "
Why is everyone afraid?
Why is this night different from all others?
Because this night the Lord will free us from the bondage of Egypt.
Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night
Pharaoh's soldiers!
Or worse!
Or from the arrow that flyeth by day
Bithiah!
In fear of your god they have set me free.
May a stranger enter?
There are no strangers among those who seek God's mercy.
My bearers?
All who thirst for freedom may come with us.
The darkness of death will pass over us tonight.
Tomorrow the light of freedom will shine upon us
as we go forth from Egypt.
I shall go with you, Moses.
- A princess of Egypt! - From the house of Pharaoh!
An idol-worshipper!
This woman drew me from the Nile
and set my feet upon the path of knowledge.
Mered, bring a chair for Pharaoh's daughter.
There is a great light shines from your face.
Perhaps some day I shall understand it.
He is God's messenger, Princess.
If it is not forbidden to look upon the breath of pestilence,
then see, for it is here.
Do not look, Eleazar.
Close the door, Joshua, and let death pass.
Will it pass, Moses? Will it pass?
That is God's promise, Elisheba.
"Blessed art thou, o Lord our God
"Who bringeth forth bread from the Earth. "
Run! Run!
There shall no evil befall you...
or any plagues come near you.
A thousand shall fall at thy sight
Why do we eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs?
Faster! Take the other road!
The herbs remind us of the bitterness of captivity, Eleazar.
This is the bread of haste,
that you will remember this night
from generation to generation forever.
Give me back my baby!
- They are my people! - All are God's people.
Death is all around us!
But it passes those who have believed the Lord.
Always remember, Eleazar...
he passed over your house.
Are the captains of Egypt afraid of a night mist?
- The death cry is everywhere. - Some devil's curse! Look!
I've known battle for 30 years, Pharaoh,
but never fear till tonight.
Aide.
Have the captains join their men.
At the coming of dawn we will strike.
No first-born Hebrew shall live.
Let the Hebrews go, great one,
or we are all dead men.
He was your son?
My first-born.
There is no magic cure, no spell to use.
He is the first-born of Pharaoh.
We have no skill before this... pestilence.
My father.
My son.
Your own curse is on him.
- Where did you hear this? - From Moses.
I would not let his people go
because your serpent's tongue hardened my heart.
You only thought to keep Moses here.
You cared nothing for my throne...
or my son.
I asked Moses for his life.
The shadow of death is on his face.
No... He will not die.
Captain.
Take my fastest chariot. Bring Moses to me.
I will bring him, mighty Pharaoh.
He's my only son.
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.
It is not by your word,
nor by my hand that we are free, Pharaoh.
The power of God has freed us.
Enough of your words!
Take your people, your cattle, your god and your pestilence.
Take what spoils from Egypt you will! But go!
O Lord God...
with a strong hand thou dost bring us out of bitter bondage.
Tomorrow we go forth a free nation.
For every man shall reap what he has sown
and bow no knee except in prayer.
We will go with our young and with our old,
with our sons and with our daughters...
With our flocks and with our herds will we go,
for I know that the Lord is great
and that our Lord is above all gods.
He's dead.
Soca, great lord of the lower world...
I, who have denied the gods of Egypt,
bow before you now.
Show that you have power above the god of Moses,
and restore the life he has taken from my son.
Guide back his soul across the lake of death
to the place of living men,
and I will raise a temple to you mightier than the pyramids.
Hear me, dread lord of darkness...
Arise, O Israel!
Behold the dawn of freedom!
And it came to pass, after the stifling night of terror,
came a day such as the world had never seen.
From east and west, from north and south,
they came with all they had, driving their flocks
and their herds and their camels before them.
By tens, by hundreds, by thousands,
unending streams of man and beast and burden,
and even very much cattle,
poured into the Avenue of Sphinxes.
Beneath the stone feet of the four colossal images of Rameses,
which their own sweat and blood and sinew
had hewn from solid rock,
a nation arose and freedom was born into the world.
Father, have you got Rebekka?
No, I haven't got Rebekka.
Here's the trough. Sling it on your shoulders.
This is a blessed day!
- Here's Rebekka! - Thank you!
- Can we take the cow? - We're moving to the gates.
Rachel, help me with this brick yoke.
Don't forget the oil for the baths!
Where are we going?
To some land flowing with milk and honey!
I've never tasted honey. Anybody know the way?
It's away from the whip! Freedom will wet your throats in the desert.
This is the governor's house! You cannot enter.
Out! All of you!
Why do soldiers come here? I put no blood on my door.
Then stone bleeds!
Your stonecutter did this to me!
All your gold cannot wipe that mark from your door...
or from my heart.
For that, you'll walk all the way to...
Where are we going? Do you know where we're going?
To hell, I hope!
Like Dathan, they did not know where they were going,
and cared no more than their flocks.
Now they used the brick yokes for a very different burden.
There went forth among them
planters of vineyards and sowers of seeds,
each hoping to sit under his own vine and fig tree.
Out of this glorious chaos,
it is Joshua who brings order and purpose.
Set the standard of each tribe before the people!
Levite in the centre, Judah to the right, Hephron left. Go!
Watch where you're going! Watch out for my geese!
Joseph was Jacob's son
Many colours was his coat...
Aaron and the elders are carrying a shrouded body, Grandfather!
They are the bones of Joseph, to rest in his own land.
Nubians, Grandfather!
- Here come treasure wagons! - Spoils of Egypt.
All who shared the toil will share this gold! Here, boy!
For the blind one!
A little golden calf, Grandfather, with horns!
An idol. For idol-worshippers!
There are the fire-bearers!
Plant your fires at night beside the standards,
that all may light their torches!
Eleazar, hang this on the wagon.
Now the cradle...
Joshua!
I have wagons for midwives and physicians.
Place them at 5,000 cubits...
I'll pay you back every lash you gave me, Dathan!
- Is this a day for hard feelings? - I've felt your whip!
Lilia is no slave, Dathan! You can carry your own carton.
Let HER ride!
So, now, my brother, we have NEW task-masters.
We serve no masters now!
Yes, but not for long.
- Here. Old woman. That's it. - Joshua!
Make way for the governor!
- You know who I am. - I know who you WERE.
Go and tell Rameses I'm coming back to my house.
That rabble may follow Moses into the desert today,
but when their eyes are seared red by the sun
and their cracked lips bleed with thirst,
when their stomachs cramp with hunger,
they will curse the name of Moses and his god.
Then I will lead them back to Pharaoh and the brick pits.
There are so many.
So many.
How shall I find thy road through the wilderness, Lord?
How shall I find water in the desert for this multitude?
Moses... the people are assembled.
Then let us go forth to the mountain of God,
that he may write his commandments in our minds and hearts forever.
We march, praising his mighty name!
- What is the word, Joshua? - Let the trumpets sound!
Hear, O Israel! Remember this day,
when the strong hand of the Lord leads you out of bondage!
The Lord is our God! The Lord is one!