Quotes

Sethi: Harden yourself against subordinates. Have no friend. Trust no woman.

Bithiah: A conquerer, already conquered?

Moses: The first face I look for and the last I find.

[as Moses saw Bithiah, he knelt to her, to honor her]

Moses: Mother!

Bithiah: I was thanking the gods for your safe return. But I find you in grave danger here.

Moses: An intoxicating danger, mother.

Bithiah: Marry her if you can, my son, but never fall in love with her.

Nefretiri: Oh, I'll be less trouble to him than the Hebrew slaves of Goshen.

Bithiah: Goshen?

Yochabel: Why have you come here?

Bithiah: Because Moses will come here.

Yochabel: My son?

Bithiah: No, my son! That's all he must know.

Yochabel: My lips might deny him, Great One, but my eyes never could.

Bithiah: You will 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 return?

Yochabel: I gave him life.

Bithiah: I gave him love!

Yochabel: [Yochabel's last line, were said in deep joy] God of our fathers, who has appointed an end to the bondage of Israel, blessed am I among all mothers in the land, for my eyes have beheld Thy deliverer.

Jethro: You have come far.

Moses: From Egypt.

Jethro: You crossed the desert on foot? He has no name surely guided your steps.

Moses: He who has no name? Do you Bedouins know the god of Abraham?

Jethro: Abraham is the father of many nations. We are the children of Ishmael, his firstborn. We are odedient of God.

Moses: My people look to him for deliverance, but they are still in bondage.

Sephora: I do not know about such things, but I know that the mountain rumbles when God is there, and the earth trembles, and the clouds are red with fire.

Moses: At such a time, has any man 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 cry of slaves in bondage.

Nefretiri: Oh, Moses, Moses, why of all men did I fall in love with a prince of fools?

Joshua: Water lily!

Lilia: My name is Lilia.

Joshua: To me, you are a lily, and I want water.

Lilia: Joshua, I thought you'd never come down.

Joshua: Water before love, my girl.

Lilia: Oh, does it take the entire Nile to quench your thirst?

Joshua: No, only your lips.

Lilia: Be careful, my love. Dathan's eyes can see through stone.

Joshua: Dathan is a vulture, preying on the flesh of his own people.

Lilia: When he looks at me, I... I am afraid.

Joshua: If he touches you, I'll strangle him with his own whip!

Lilia: And bring death to a thousand others?

Joshua: Is life in bondage better than death?

Joshua: Let the old woman loose!

Egyptian guard: She'll stay where she is, and you'll die in the lion pit!

Lilia: Joshua!

Yochabel: Run to the prince and beg mercy!

Lilia: Mercy from Rameses?

Yochabel: No. From Prince Moses, there on the pavilion.

Moses: You know it is death to strike an Egyptian.

Joshua: I know it.

Moses: Yet you struck him. Why?

Joshua: To free the old woman.

Moses: What is she to you?

Joshua: An old woman.

[Joshua was defending his Hebrew race]

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!

Lilia: You are strange to the pits. Your back is unscarred.

Moses: You bring a warm smile with your cool water.

Lilia: My smile is for a stonecutter. The water is for you.

Moses: I thank you.

Lilia: But your voice is not strange. You are...?

Moses: [Moses spoke very quickly, preventing Lilia from recognizing his voice] One of many who thirsts.

Baka: You there! Come here!

Lilia: That is Baka, the master builder.

Moses: Does he call you or me?

Baka: You, water girl! I'm thirsty!

Lilia: He does not thirst for water.

Slave: Beauty is but a curse to our women.

Joshua: Four hundred years we have waited.

Moses: Pharaoh's soldiers will not wait so long.

Joshua: The Almighty has heard our outcry. You are the Chosen One!

Moses: I know nothing of your god.

Joshua: He knows you, Moses. He has brought you to us, and you cannot turn your back upon Him. You will deliver us!

Lilia: Dathan, if you fear God, let me go.

Dathan: I am here, girl, because I would put no fear in a desert god and his mud-pit prophet. I am here because I bowed lower than my brothers before the Egyptians. Now the Egyptians bow low before me. Joshua wanted you. Baka wanted you. But you belong to me, a gift from Rameses.

Lilia: I will bow before you, Dathan. I will work my hands raw for you. But please do not shame me before my Lord.

Dathan: Your lord is the govenor of Goshen.

Lilia: What difference to my shame?

Dathan: No difference to you, my dove of Cannan, but to a condemned slave like Joshua it could mean the difference between death on the spikes and life in the copper mines of Sinai. What would you do to influence his excellency's clemency?

Lilia: [sobbing] Anything, Dathan, anything.

Dathan: Joshua will always be grateful to you.

Joshua: They told me you were dead.

Lilia: To all I love, I am dead, Joshua.

Joshua: Dathan?

Lilia: Dathan.

Joshua: Of your own free will?

Lilia: Of my own free will.

Joshua: You are no man's slave! The hour of deliverance has come!

Lilia: Not for me, Joshua.

Dathan: Remember, Joshua, of her own free will she belongs to me!

Nefretiri: [Nefreteri handed Rameses a sword as he was preparing to battle the freed Israelites] Bring it back to me, stained with his blood!

Rameses: I will... to mingle with your own!

Moses: [Moses, to Sethi, after Sethi came to see Moses, as he was completing the city to be built] Pharoah is pleased?

Sethi: Yes. But not with certain accusations, made against you.

Moses: By whom?

Sethi: You raided the temple granaries?

Moses: Yes.

[Rameses puts first weight on weight scale, while weight scale on opposite side, stays up]

Sethi: You gave the grain to the slaves?

Moses: Yes.

[Rameses puts second weight on weight scale, while weight scale on opposite side, still stays up]

Rameses: You gave them one day in seven to rest.

Moses: Yes.

[Rameses puts third weight on weight scale, and scale lowered, with three weights, added together, to empty weight scale, on opposite side]

Sethi: Did you do all this, to gain their favor?

Moses: [Moses then put a brick on empty weight scale, on opposite side of Rameses' weight scale, of accusations, and then said] A city is made of brick, Pharoah. The strong make many. The weak make few. The dead make none. So much for accusations.

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 stonecutter. The Pharoah likes his images cut deep.

Bithiah: Your tongue will dig your grave, Memnet!

[Reminding Memnet of her vow, when she noticed the ark, 30 years earlier]

Nefretiri: Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!

Rameses: You have rat's ears and a ferret's nose.

Dathan: To use in your service, true son of Pharaoh.

Rameses: Add to them, the eyes of a weasel. And find me this would-be deliverer.

Moses: It would take more than a man to lead the slaves from bondage. It would take a god.

Rameses: [banishing Moses to the desert] Here is your king's scepter, and here is your kingdom, with the scorpion, the cobra, and the lizard for subjects. Free them if you will. Leave the slaves to me.

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.

Dathan: Moses has words. Pharaoh has spears!

Moses: The Lord of Hosts will do battle for us. Behold His mighty hand.

Moses: Go, proclaim liberty throughout all the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof.

[Nefretiri and Sephora look upon one another for the only time]

Sephora: The Queen of Egypt is beautiful... as he said.

Nefretiri: [Nefretiri is sorting through various veils and scarves] This is for the temple ceremony... this is for my wedding night!

Memnet: You will never wear it.

Nefretiri: [surprised] Why not?

Memnet: I have brought you a cloth more revealing... send them away.

Nefretiri: [nodding to her servants] Go then, while I hear what this puckered old persimmon has to say.

Memnet: For thirty years, I have been silent. Now, all the kings of Egypt, cry out to me, from their tombs, "Let no Hebrew sit upon our throne."

Nefretiri: What are you saying?

Memnet: Rameses has the blood of many kings.

Nefretiri: And Moses?

Memnet: He is lower than the dust. Not one drop of royal blood flows through his veins. He is the son of Hebrew slaves.

Nefretiri: I'll have you torn into so many pieces, even the vultures wont find them. Who hatched this lie? Rameses?

Memnet: Rameses does not know,

[three seconds]

Memnet: yet.

Nefretiri: You will repeat this to Bithiah.

Memnet: Bithiah drew a slave child, from the Nile, called him son and Prince of Egypt, blinding herself to the truth and the pain of an empty womb.

Nefretiri: Were you alone, with, Bithiah?

Memnet: A little girl led me to the Hebrew woman, Yochabel, that the child might be suckled by his true mother.

Nefretiri: Take care, old frog. You croaked too much, against Moses!

Memnet: Would you mingle the blood of slaves, with your own?

Nefretiri: He will be my husband. I shall have no other.

[Memnet then shows Nefretiri the Hebrew cloth, she had been kept hidden, for thirty years. Memnet got it, when she and Bithiah, were alone]

Memnet: Then, use this, to wrap your firstborn. Torn from a Levite's robe. It was Moses' swaddling cloth.

Nefretiri: And your shrowd. Do you think I care whose son he is?

Memnet: Rameses cares.

Nefretiri: You won't live to tell him.

Memnet: [Memnet's final line, as Nefretiri pushed her off the roof, in anger and killing her] Oh, oh!

Dathan: We shall wander north from Egypt! Do you know why?

Israelites: For peace?

Dathan: No! For food!

Narrator: The steel has been tempered. The metal is ready - for the Maker's hand.

Rameses: Let him rave on, that men will know him mad.

Moses: [to Sethi] Your wish is my will.

Baka: [after Baka got Lilia cleaned] No, no, no, no, no. Not red with the red, with the Summur gown.

Dathan: My eyes can be used elsewhere, lord Baka.

Baka: Before you go let them look upon you thought unworthy. You would let such a flower, go ungathered. Dathan, you can see only mud, so pick up her muddy clothes and go. Go, all of you!

Nefretiri: [Moses was just called back, from Hebrew mudpits, by Nefreteri] Then, why aren't you kneeling at the feet of a princess?

Moses: I'm afraid the mud pits have stiffened my knees, royal one.

Nefretiri: Shall I call back the guards?

Moses: Do you think they can bend them?

Jethro's daughter: [Sephora saw Moses, asleep and drew her six sisters, to see him as he slept. Jethro's seven daughters looked at Moses asleep and admired him] He's eaten a whole bunch of dates.

[then, they all quietly chuckled, in humor]

Sephora: We drew this water.

Amalekite herder: Out of the way, girl.

Sephora: This is the well of Jethro, our father. You have no right here.

Amalekite herder: Our goats don't know your father.

Sephora: Jethro's mark is on the well.

Amalekite: They can't read.

[while speaking, he also chuckles, at the same time]

Amalekite: Neither can we.

[while was speaking, he also chuckles, at the same time]

Amalekite herder: Then let him breed sons to guard it, not daughters.

[an Amalekite herdsman pushed Sephora down, to the ground and Moses quickly defended Jethro's seven daughters and defeated the Amalekites, catching them off guard, combatting with them, using only his staff]

Jethro's daughter: Drive them away.

Moses: Let them be first, whose hands have drawn the water.

Sephora: The stranger is wise... and strong.

Moses: Drive back your goats, until the sheep are watered.

Amalekite herder: All right. All right.

Gershom: [Moses and Sephora are now parents] Did the little boy die in the desert, my father?

Moses: No, God brought Ishmael and Hagar into a good land.

Gershom: The same God, who lives on the mountain?

Moses: It may be, my son.

Sephora: Moses! Moses!

Moses: Here.

[Gershom starts to try blow shofar and Moses chuckles]

Moses: Your mother is calling.

Sephora: Moses! There is a man, among the sheep.

[Sephora saw Joshua]

Moses: Keep sounding the alarm, Gershom, but stay here, until your mother comes.

Sephora: In the cleft, behind the rock.

Moses: Your eyes are as sharp as they are beautiful.

Moses: [just after Moses defended himself, against Rameses' accusations, he opens a curtain, to Sethi] Let your own image proclaim my loyalty for a thousand years.

Sethi: Superb!

[after nine of the ten plagues curse Egypt, Moses is sent for]

Rameses' son: [before Moses comes into Pharoah's throne] Will my father free the slaves?

[Pharoah's son was called to be beside him, as he still refused to free the Hebrew slaves]

[scene of the Burning Bush]

Moses: Moses. Moses.

Moses: I am here, Lord.

Moses: Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place thou standest is holy ground. I am the god of your fathers, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob.

Moses: Lord... Lord, why do you not hear the cries of their children in the bondage of Egypt?

Moses: 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, unto Pharoah, that thou mayest bring my people out of Egypt.

Moses: Who am I, Lord, that you should send me? How can I lead this people out of bondage? What words can I speak that they will heed?

Moses: I will teach thee what thou wilt say. When thou hast brought forth the people. They shall serve me upon this mountain. I will put my laws into their hearts, and into their minds will I write them. Now, therefore, go and I will be with thee.

Moses: But if I say to your children that the god of their fathers has sent me, they will ask "What is his name?" How shall I answer them?

Moses: I am, that I am. Thou shalt say "I am" hath sent me unto you.

Bithiah: I am the Pharaoh's daughter, and this is my son. He shall be reared in my house, as the prince of the two lands.

Memnet: My mother and her mother before her were branded into the Pharaoh's service. I will not see you make this son of slaves a prince of Egypt.

Bithiah: You will see it, Memnet. You will see him walk with his head among the eagles. You will serve him as you serve me. Fill the ark with water sink it into silence.

[Memnet then shoved the floating ark, into the Nile, but kept the piece of Hebrew cloth]

Bithiah: Raise your hands, Memnet. What you have buried in the Nile will remain buried in your heart. Swear it.

Memnet: I will be silent.

Bithiah: The day you break that oath will be the last your eyes shall ever see.

[Bithiah put a curse, on Memnet with this quote]

Moses: [Moses opened the door, after Bithiah knocked] Bithiah.

Bithiah: In fear of your God, they have set me free. May a stranger enter?

Moses: There are no strangers among those who seek God's mercy.

Bithiah: And my bearers?

Moses: All who thirst for freedom, may come with us. The shadow of death will pass over us tonight. And tomorrow, we will see the light of freedom.

Bithiah: I shall go with you, Moses.

Miriam: One from the house of Pharoah?

Aaron: An Egyptian?

Miriam: An idol worshipper!

Moses: This woman drew me from the Nile and set my feet upon the path of knowledge. Mered, bring another chair to the table.

Bithiah: A great light shines from your face, Moses. Perhaps, some day, I shall come to understand it.

Bithiah: Moses, do not enter! There is only sorrow here.

Moses: Are you comforting it, Mother? I followed you here to find this woman Yocha... You were the woman who was caught between the stones.

Yochabel: Until you come.

Bithiah: My son, if you love me, you will...

Moses: I love you, Mother, but am I your son? Or yours?

Yochabel: No, you are not my son. If you believe that men and women are cattle to be driven under the lash, if you can bow before idols of stone and golden images of beasts, you are not my son.

[Opening line and sentences as movie started]

Narrator: And God said Let there be light, and there was light. And from this light, God created life upon earth. And man was given diminion over all things upon this earth and the power to choose betweem good and evil. But each sought to do his own will because he knew not the light of God's law. Man took dominion over man, the conquered were made to serve the conqueror, the weak were made to serve the strong, and freedom was gone from this world. So did the Egyptians cause the children of Israel to serve with rigor, and their lives were made bitter with hard bondage. And their cry came up unto God. And God heard them and cast into Egypt, into the lowly hut of Amram and Yochabel, the seed of a man upon whose mind and heart would be written God's law and God's commandments, one man alone against an empire.

Moses: What has this child to do with me? Tell me.

Nefretiri: A child was wrapped in it.

Moses: Who was this child?

Nefretiri: Bithiah drew him from the river. Memnet was with her.

Moses: Who was this child?

Nefretiri: Memnet is dead. No one needs know who you are. I love you. I killed for you. I'll kill anyone who comes between us.

Moses: Why did you kill for me, Nefretiri? If you love me, do not lie.

Nefretiri: Hold me in your arms. Hold me close. You were not born prince of Egypt, Moses. You are the son of Hebrew slaves.

Moses: Love can not drown truth, Nefretiri. You do believe it, or you would not have killed Memnet.

Nefretiri: I love you. That's the only truth, I know.

Moses: Did this child, of the Nile, have a mother?

Nefretiri: Memnet called her Yochabel.

Moses: I will ask Bithiah.

[Moses then left Nefretiri, to speak with Bithiah]

Bithiah: How could you doubt me? You did not doubt me, as you took your first step. It's a wicked lie, spun by Rameses.

Moses: Did Rameses spin this?

[while he was asking Bithiah, Moses shows her the Hebrew cloth, that Memnet had kept hidden, as a secret and quiet for 30 years. In reality, it was infant Moses' swaddling cloth, 30 years earlier]

Bithiah: The word of your mother, against a piece of cloth found by Memnet?

Moses: How did you know it was Memnet?

Bithiah: Who else? Memnet nursed Rameses. She will pay, for spreading his lies.

Moses: She has paid.

Bithiah: She is dead?

Moses: At the hand of Nefretiri.

Moses: Memnet spoke of a woman named Yochabel. Did you ever know her?

Bithiah: [Trying to hide the truth] No.

Moses: Yours, was the face I saw, above my cradle. The only mother, I've ever known. Wherever I am led and whatever, I must do, I will always love you.

[Moses then left Bithiah, to visit Hebrew slave woman, Yochabel, and learn the complete truth, of the cloth]

Moses: I'll not leave a man to die in the mud.

Slave: Thank you, my son... but death is better than bondage, for my days are ended and my prayer unanswered.

Moses: What prayer, old man?

Slave: That before death closed my eyes, I might behold the deliverer who will lead all men to freedom.

Moses: What deliverer could break the power of Pharaoh?

Egyptian guard: You!