"Soon." "Soon." "Your child has her nose pressed against your heart." "Put one more in here for shearing." "it appears she's not too anxious to face life." "Who could blame her?" "This world being what it is." "Wives, look after everything for a while." "I'm just going to see how things are with Lot." "Serug!" "Serug!" "Hold her head." "Gentle, gentle, gentle." "You're very close." "You're very close." "Aisha, hurry!" "Quickly!" "Quickly." "Try again." "Try again." "Push, push!" "Push!" "Come inside, Lot." "She's a strong girl." "Come on!" "In." "She's fine." "Fine." "Inside." "You have a god for every need, Nahor." "Even for my needs?" "If you are prepared to become an accomplice to this god." "Which one is this?" "Sin god of fertility." "Does it have...?" "Excellent, excellent." "How much?" "You see this beardless orphan?" "He's my nephew." "And that was his wife, trying to drop their first child." "How much?" "I'll give you a good price." "Reko, my friend, look at this bird-breasted boy and ask yourself:" ""How could a child like this father a child himself?" "How?"" "Because he sacrificed to Sin, god of moon." "Four silver pieces." "One." "Don't give up now, child." "Don't give up." "Clear your mind." "Clear your mind." "Clear your mind." "If you think that's loud, wait till the sound you'll make if she drops a daughter." "Clear your mind." "All right, look I'll do it for you." "I'll do it for you." "Here, here." "I'll do it for you." "Run, get my brother." "Now!" "Father...." "Don't leave me." "Don't leave me." "Not now." "Not yet." "Not yet." "This market is ended until further notice." "Clear the square!" "Clear the square!" "My esteemed first councilor." "You are Nahor, born son of Terah, are you not?" "You know I am." "But tell me, why have you ended the market?" "This concerns the royal covenant to rent the king's lands to Terah and his people." "I, therefore, bring a summons from the king for your father to appear before him." "Our covenant expires at sunset." "Renew it or you and your people will be expelled from this city and all its lands." "Your Rightful Honor, first councilor to the king should we discuss delicate matters under the blistering sun?" "Cooler place perhaps?" "Have this dung cleared." "The king walks here today." "Sir...." "Spit it out." "What?" "Your father...." "Your father." "Oh, Father, I thank all the gods for taking away your pain so quickly." "To be robbed again by that thief and his king." "Brother, for 23 years, you have outwitted that fool." "Today, no doubt, you will do so again." "You ever tried to feed a vulture?" "You better count your fingers afterwards." "It's good to hear you laugh." "it means you're getting better." "Yeah." "It's late." "We have business." "Father...." "Please, please stay." "You stay." "Let me talk to the king." "He makes the covenant with me, not you." "Not yet." "And you say nothing." "Let Nahor talk." "Your brother knows these people." "His wits have made us richer every year." "Nahor knows how to use his tongue." "And you keep yours in your mouth." "This day marks the end of the covenant between Asdi Takin King of Haran, and Terah and his people." "So be it." "These shadows grow long." "A new covenant must be made before the last light." "I, Nahor, will speak for my father." "The generosity of the King of Haran is known throughout the world." "We've prospered for many years under his benevolent hand." "He has our endless gratitude." "Thanks will not feed our people." "What do you offer?" "In the new year, we will lay at the feet of His Majesty the same number of mature sheep and cattle as the old year, the same quantity of spun wool, tanned skins, silver pieces" "The same?" "Plus!" "Plus a bonus of one-fourth of all that." "We appreciate your sincere remarks and your offer." "But, old man the bonus will not be one-fourth." "To graze on my lands for another year you will pay double." "Double, Your Majesty?" "Double?" "This is an unprecedented demand." "It's...." "It's out of the question." "We cannot." "Then I am sad to say your tribe must leave my paradise." "Your Majesty why do you abuse us in this manner?" "In past years, you've refused us water." "We dug for it." "You seized our wells and made us pay silver for the water." "You gave us your worst lands." "After our herds made the earth fertile with dung you drove us off so your farmers could grow barley fivefold." "You ordered us to fight your enemies." "We gave you victories with our blood." "Oh, yes." "Haran is a paradise but our people helped to make it so." "You?" "You did all this?" "The riches of Haran pour from the hands of the blessed god Sin and nobody else." "Instead, you wandered here from Ur, a small tribe and now you are as thick as the lice in my hair." "You will pay double because you are now twice the number you were." "Our tribe grows because of the children." "Our children." "Must we pay twice because our women are fertile?" "Not all your women." "Your wife, for instance is a woman of great beauty, I hear." "A problem that perhaps lies elsewhere." "We will be glad to pay whatever His Highness, in his wisdom, asks." "Double?" "It will be double." "Let the covenant be made." "If I break this covenant may what is done to these beasts be done to me." "There, you've done it." "It's over." "There, there." "It's over." "You've done it, you've done it." "Oh, she's so lovely." "All right, all right." "This will help." "Let her drink this." "Look at me." "Look at me." "Mint tea." "It'll do her good." "Spoiled, ungrateful child!" "Take your baby." "She's beautiful." "And hungry." "She wants you." "She's a girl." "Give her to the servants!" "Leave me alone. I don't want her!" "You don't want her." "Oh, thank you, Sarai." "May you have many more." "So the King of Haran has lice." "A head of hair to a louse is a head of hair, even if it wears a crown." "Thank you." "Thank you, son." "How are you feeling?" "That was nothing yesterday." "Something I ate perhaps." "I'm happy for Lot." "Yes." "A daughter." "And time for more, time for a son." "And Sarai, as usual, was a very good midwife." "She probably...." "Father it is killing her." "She's brought so many children into the world each birth is like a little death to her." "And when she dies a little, so do you." "I have nothing else." "She's all I have." "Abram you're a mystery to me." "Now, Lot, I understand." "He's inherited from your dead brother, so he's a child with the wealth of a man, trying very hard to be a man." "Nahor, I understand." "He's rich, but he thinks like a pauper looking under every stone for his next piece of silver." "But you?" "You have more wealth than either of them and when I die, twice that." "And yet it means nothing to you." "Instead, you brood and ponder question and search." "For what?" "Why can't you be happy for what we have here, now?" "Abram, the king's right." "I've never seen a place so green." "Their gods, as he said have made Haran a paradise." "I have tried to reach those gods but I get nothing." "Nothing?" "You get nothing from the gods?" "Nothing at all?" "Nothing." "Listen Lot took his bride to the shrine of Sin for the ritual of the full moon." "Did you know that?" "And no sooner does he take her to bed than:" "A child." "Yes, sometimes the gods listen." "What is it?" "Is it the king?" "The king?" "No." "No, not the king." "He's no better nor worse than any other king I've met." "Is it our life here?" "How can one not be content in a place like this?" "Water, grass." "This is a rich land." "Is it me?" "Oh, no, no." "Talk to me." "I don't know." "I don't know." "I just need...." "What?" "What do you need?" "It's...." "l want to give you a child, but I can't." "No, no." "No." "It's not that." "Not that at all." "Then what?" "The truth is, I...." "l don't know." "I just don't know." "Father, without doubt, Sarai is a good woman, a beauty." "Enough's enough." "She is, after all, only a woman." "Are you suggesting a second wife?" "What else?" "Look at me." "After Milcah dropped three sons, I took Reumah." "A luxury at the time perhaps, but now I have five sons." "A man can't have too many." "That's why we marry." "Of course, my brother can't think like that, practical, feet on the ground." "He fights his secret war in his heart and clings to Sarai like a drowning man." "Abram with a second wife?" "l don't know." "Why not?" "Who knows, he might even enjoy it, if he ever allowed himself." "Oh, he's such a" " Brother!" "Those pains." "Oh, no, no." "They've become my friends." "I'd miss them if they didn't visit me once in a while." "Come inside, Abram." "Something I want to show you." "Rather impressive, don't you think?" "Here's a divinity with a hidden power." "Herbs of some kind." "I'm not sure exactly which." "Tastes awful, but it's blessed by this deity which gives it amazing potency." "Is this why you asked me here?" "Well, yes, I thought just to show you." "Abram, tonight, try a little of this." "Sarai too." "Reumah and I tried it, and I can't tell you" "Gods for this." "Gods for that." "A god to eat!" "Abram, what are you doing?" "A god to sleep!" "Are you insane?" "!" "Stop it." "Gods for riches!" "Stop it!" "Gods for rain!" "You're a madman!" "They're all worthless, false!" "Useless!" "Stop it!" "Absurd!" "Lies, lies, lies!" "Stop!" "No, no, no." "Evil!" "Stop this madness now!" "Abram." "Abram." "Go away from your father's house." "Your father's house?" "From my father's house?" "To the land I will show you." "The land I will show you?" "Make of you a great nation?" "And I will bless all those who bless you?" "And curse all those who curse you?" "And in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed." "Let me see if I understand this." "There you were, facedown in the mud and a god spoke to you." "Fine." "But what god?" "What powers does he have?" "What does he look like?" "Where does he live?" "Brother, I have studied every god known to man and they all have names, faces, places." "Besides you, Abram who knows this god?" "I don't know, Father." "Perhaps many in their hearts." "Oh, I see!" "A god to be worshiped in ignorance." "Not so, brother." "It is simply that I am ignorant." "I do not know him yet." "But in time...." "Fine." "Fine." "In time." "But now he's telling you to pack up everything and everyone and leave for who knows where?" "No!" "It's insane." "I refuse to follow this brother of mine and his voices." "We've worked too hard and paid too high a price for what we have." "And he wants to forsake it." "For what?" "You have changed, Abram. I can see it." "No, he hasn't." "He's still as stubborn as an ass." "Stop pacing and sit down." "Tell me, Abram help me understand." "What has happened to you?" "This god said Abram's name will be famous, that he will make of him a great nation." "But how?" "How can Abram make a nation of people without...?" "Children?" "l don't know." "We've heard enough of this nonsense." "If Abram and his men leave, we're at risk." "And you, brother, are in greater danger." "Out there?" "Alone?" "Your people will be like sheep among jackals." "I feel that I am protected." "This nameless god again." "Nahor." "Lot, leave us." "Come on." "Go!" "Out!" "Abram you're my son." "You owe me obedience." "And instead you listen to this unknown god a nameless god who whispers into your ear and bids you to leave your father's house to break your heart and mine." "What--?" "What kind of god is this?" "I don't know, Father." "But I...." "l heard his voice." "It spoke to me above the silence of all the other gods." "You despise the gods who have given us protection and made us rich and allowed our children and herds to grow healthy and strong." "You renounce all our gods because you've found a new god?" "I cannot stay, Father as much as it grieves me the thought of leaving you." "But...." "l felt...." "l...." "I've heard him call to me." "Abram you're taking away much joy from our lives." "I counted on you my son, for the days to come." "You have a new heart, and I don't know it." "But you know mine." "Go." "Go in peace." "With the blessing of your god, whoever he is." "And with mine." "Uncle I'm going to come with you." "To protect you." "Let us gather the herds." "Don't drink too fast." "Slowly." "Where were you going to?" "To Haran, in the north." "That's where we came from." "Then you're going south." "Toward Damascus." "That's not a place where one is necessarily welcomed." "Or, at least, as far as I'm concerned." "There's much oppression there." "In fact, I was" "Watch out." "We come in peace." "That man is a slave." "He ran away from his master in Damascus." "We are taking him back." "That man is a guest in our camp." "Therefore, his life is sacred to us." "He must come with us." "Back to the man who owns him." "Owns him?" "Then I am willing to pay for this slave's freedom." "The price is high." "His master spent a fortune to buy him as a scribe." "He's fed him for years." "l will pay the price." "Thank you, master." "I'm your slave." "My name is Eliezer." "No, no." "Please, please, please." "No, no, no." "You are free." "You are free to go where you choose." "I'll give you what you need to reach Haran." "I have a brother there who may have work for an educated man." "I can never repay you." "But you have my lifelong gratitude and I want to give you this small piece of advice:" "Turn back." "Stay the night with us." "Eat and rest." "Uncle." "Haran is probably worse than Damascus." "One question, please." "Why are we traveling south?" "O my God with all my heart, I give thanks." "I have seen it as you have shown it to me." "Canaan." "This is the land of promise." "This piece of paradise is no accident." "The hand of man is everywhere." "We are not alone here in Canaan." "Take what men you can spare and form a circle right around this valley, and we" "I am Mambre the Amorite." "And these are my two brothers." "I am Abram." "This is my nephew Lot." "These are my people." "And this valley is our land." "And your people are on it." "It is a well-tended valley." "Yes, it is." "Because my father's father's father dug for water here and he found a river under the earth." "Now it flows above." "And my father's father planted these trees." "And my father dammed the water to make the lake where your animals now drink." "Now there's not much work for you and your brothers to do." "Oh, yes." "We defend it." "Uncle Abram." "We have the advantage." "The land's good here." "People are tired of wandering." "Let's take the place now." "We can defend it as well as any." "First we kill these men?" "lf necessary." "Oh, it would be necessary." "My nephew believes we have the advantage." "Your nephew is good with numbers." "Now we'll see if he knows how to use them." "No!" "There is no justice between men if our differences are measured in numbers and in blood." "Your father and his father and his father made this valley green." "This land is yours." "We will leave in peace." "Gather the herds." "We're going back to our valley." "My Lord God." "You have led me here." "You have given me the land that you have promised." "But why are you taking it away now?" "I have brought with me the hope of my people." "But how do I feed them?" "Shall I remain here?" "Shall I take them away?" "But where, Lord?" "Where?" "Where?" "Tell me what to do." "I am your servant." "But how can I serve you?" "How am I to serve you?" "O my Lord do not abandon me." "I speak to him and he will not answer." "This is a mysterious god." "He wanted us to come here." "We did." "He showed me Canaan as it will be." "He said he would make our people a great nation." "But how do we exist until then?" "He will provide." "He made me a promise." "He cannot be untrue to that promise." "Last night in the tent next to ours, a child died." "l know." "The animals are wailing." "l know." "The land has dried up." "l know." "How can you follow this god?" "I do. I can." "And I will." "Not you." "Not you too." "If Canaan is the home that he has promised us and we leave will he not be displeased?" "Will he not abandon us?" "But if we stay...." "We will starve." "What if...?" "What if Canaan is not...?" "We will not die here." "We will not die here." "My people." "What am I doing?" "What have I done?" "Stay with it." "Stay with your faith." "Faith?" "Uncle, we must find water and grass soon." "There's plenty of both not far from here." "I traveled through here once with a caravan of merchants carrying spices." "Spices to where?" "To Egypt." "The land of the great river Nile." "It's a very fertile place." "Maybe that's where we should be going." "That may not be so easy." "Egypt is ruled by a terrible tyrant they call Pharaoh." "He watches over his land like a jealous husband." "Could there not be an oasis a fertile valley, anything, between here and that Pharaoh?" "Nothing." "The desert remains harsh and unfriendly all the way." "We will go on to this land of the river Nile." "We will go on." "Abram." "Abram." "I've just been told by someone up ahead that you may have a greater problem than we imagined." "It seems this Pharaoh has a lust for beautiful women." "He pays great rewards for men who supply them." "Are there no laws?" "Oh, yes." "In fact, Egyptians are very strict about such matters." "It's forbidden by law for a man to take the wife of another." "And so?" "The Pharaoh has found a way around the law." "He kills the husband." "I am not the kind of woman a king would want." "You are?" "Abram." "Son of Terah." "And these are?" "These are my people." "Do you think you could be a little more precise than that?" "Yes." "Lot, son of Haran, my nephew." "Eliezer of Damascus." "Sarai, daughter of Terah..." "...my sister, and" "Enough, enough, enough, just count them." "Fifty-three now." "What do you want in Egypt?" "We'd like to rest a while." "Pasture the animals." "Trade." "Trade?" "Yes, trade." "Trade what?" "We spin wool and tan hides, make tunics, cheese, sandals" "You're a little late." "Late?" "Late." "Egypt's choking with nomads and their filthy sheep." "The hills look like maggots crawling on a dung heap." "Permission to enter denied." "Denied?" "Denied." "You." "Wait." "A bit warm for all this, don't you think?" "And for your crimes of theft against this merchant it is the judgment of our Pharaoh that justice will prevail." "Cut off their hands." "Lovely, yes." "Lovely woman." "Now, then, you." "You are the brother, is that correct?" "And your people are shepherds, are they not?" "Splendid." "You will be given two score of sheep, one score of cattle oxen and carts filled with food, tents and so forth plus grazing land in the delta." "You will obey Egyptian laws, pay Egyptian taxes worship Egyptian gods." "Your sister is now a member of the Pharaoh's household." "I know. I know, it's a ridiculously large reward." "Almost embarrassing, isn't it?" "But no need for thanks." "The Pharaoh's generosity is as boundless as the light of the sun." "Welcome to Egypt." "Enjoy your stay." "Lot, bring in the tribe." "Get them water, food." "Take care of them." "Eliezer, we've got to get her out." "We've got to try." "Find out if she's guarded, how many guards." "I'll try my best." "Be careful." "No, no, no." "Don't move." "I've almost finished." "I know, it's so thick, you can hardly keep your eyes open." "But even the men around here use it." "Everybody looks like everybody else:" "half-awake." "Even the Pharaoh?" "I've only seen the Pharaoh twice." "The first day they brought me here and when he decided I was to be your slave." "His first gift to you." "What is he like?" "Well the priests say he's a living god." "I thought he was more like a man." "A very cruel man sometimes." "What's your name?" "Hagar." "How did you come here?" "My father lost his farm." "He had debts." "I'm the payment." "Do you have to stay long?" "Mistress no one ever leaves." "We are racing to get you ready, but it might be weeks before he wants you." "Then, if you don't resist the worst thing that happens is the usual thing that happens between a man and a woman." "If you do, I will too." "And did you?" "They were wrong as usual." "I was told you were one of the most beautiful women ever to arrive from the desert." "But they were wrong." "You're one of the most beautiful women to arrive from anywhere." "Come." "Sit down." "What are you thinking?" "Are you afraid to answer?" "I've never punished anyone for their thoughts." "Are you thinking what's going to happen between us?" "Nothing will happen." "Nothing you don't want to happen." "You don't believe me?" "You're very lovely." "But there are many, many beautiful women around me." "And I am quite powerful." "But the mere exercise of power I find boring." "I hope we are going to be friends." "If we are to be more than friends, that's something you will decide." "Now it's time for my prayers." "I'm a god in exile on this earth." "Sometimes I need to ask my heavenly brothers for their advice." "And in addition, the Pharaoh insists any further discrepancies will not be tolerated." "The Pharaoh is displeased and will not condone any further discrepancies." "Such conduct is deplorable." "We await your immediate reply." "Eliezer." "Abram." "Please." "Come away." "Remain here, and your life won't be worth more than an Egyptian arrow." "She's too well-guarded." "I've tried to bribe a man who said he had friends at court." "He vanished with my silver." "Abram don't forget you're responsible for many others." "They still need you." "Sarai is lost to you and us." "We all mourn her." "But it's time you look at reality in its cruel face." "Sarai belongs to the man they call Pharaoh a god in his own right." "Sarai is mine." "She will always be mine." "Only mine." "How dare you presume to be wiser than God!" "He knows my heart." "He knows it would be better to have me killed than sentence me to a life without her." "Go." "Leave." "Leave me alone." "And there I'm having a storehouse built." "And I'm giving them a school." "A school?" "A school." "I've built schools from Nubia to the delta." "Uneducated people make a weak nation." "And this is something very interesting." "What is that?" "It looks like a mountain." "It will be as high as a mountain." "And large enough." "To do what?" "To stop the rush of time." "A pyramid is like a dam on the flowing river of time." "Inside, there will be a chamber, a place of eternal being where nothing can change, time cannot erode." "There, I will have eternal life." "Your tomb." "Yes." "For some time in the distant future." "For now it is a stronghold to guard my present." "A present I would like to offer you." "My needs are simpler than that." "What are your needs?" "Tell me." "What do you want?" "Anything." "Anything?" "Anything within my power." "I want to see my family." "My brother." "I want to go back to my people." "Mistress I thought maybe you would like a taste of our dates." "You're hurt." "No." "Yes." "He's playing with me torturing me." "He's trying to tear me away from my own heart." "Did the Pharaoh threaten you?" "He shows me kindness." "He treats you like he's treated no one else before." "And he's been very generous to your people." "I'm grateful to him for that but I hate myself for how it makes me feel." "By resisting him, I keep my pride but it hurts me to think that I'm endangering my people." "His anger could fall on them." "Tell me..." "...has any woman ever escaped--?" "Escaped from here?" "No." "They try but they don't succeed." "Bring water." "Call the doctor." "Quickly." "Your Divine Majesty has had a dream?" "l have." "Tell me your dream..." "I'm in pain." "I'm burning!" "...that I may render its meaning." "Help me." "I'm burning." "I'm in pain!" "A sign of how deeply you dream." "Your Majesty, l" "It's not a dream." "I'm on fire!" "My Pharaoh, you too?" "Your wives, your children." "They are, like you, all afflicted." "I've been poisoned." "Someone has poisoned me and my family." "But who, Majesty?" "How should I know who?" "But whoever it is kill him!" "Kill them!" "Kill them!" "Kill them!" "It burns, it burns, you incompetent idiot!" "We're doing what we can, my Pharaoh." "Get me out." "Get me out." "Get me out." "It is possible, Majesty, a divine power, a god unknown to us has unleashed his curse." "Curse?" "What curse?" "A god unknown to us?" "A god unknown to me?" "I'm the only god." "Your Majesty." "The affliction is spreading among our populace." "Panic is building." "It's affecting more people." "Our doctors are becoming desperate." "Pharaoh, I suspect this may be the curse of a foreign god a god who has journeyed here with foreigners." "Perhaps the desert people we've allowed to enter Egypt." "The desert people?" "You mean the people of the woman Sarai?" "Yes, Majesty." "Majesty we have learned something that may explain the wrath of the god of these nomads." "A god under whose protection the woman called Sarai might be." "We have arrested the leader of her people." "Her brother." "Her husband, Your Majesty." "We should exterminate them." "Kill them all." "The men, the women, the children." "The entire filthy tribe." "Have him brought here at once." "Let him come in." "In." "On your knees." "I said, on your knees." "Let him stand." "Come close." "I can't see you." "Come closer." "You see what you have done to me." "To my family and my people." "By your deceit, some god has taken revenge for an offense of which I'm innocent." "Why did you lie to us?" "Why did you say she's your sister?" "Why?" "Why?" "I lied." "But to my God, it is a greater offense to kill a man and steal his wife than it is to lie." "What god?" "A strange god." "What...?" "What sort of mysterious god is he?" "Strange, yes." "And mysterious." "He has spoken to me and" "He has spoken to you?" "Yes." "How?" "In here." "He has guided my people." "He's guided you into my Egypt?" "Why?" "Why?" "I don't know." "I don't know even if he has." "You see?" "You don't know." "It's all imagination." "It's all your fantasy." "Oh, what sort of a god is that?" "Do you think it's just that we have to suffer, the people, my family and me because of your lie?" "Can't he take this curse off us?" "Who are you?" "Abram, a shepherd." "A shepherd." "Where is Sarai?" "Your wife is my property." "She is in my household." "Your god has sent her to me." "To me." "There are many things of which I am uncertain, but one thing I am certain of:" "That my God did not send her to you." "Look to her." "Is she not without affliction?" "My God said, "l will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you."" "Look to her." "Take him away." "Wait!" "I don't want to challenge your god anymore." "Thus the Pharaoh decides:" "Take your wife the slaves I gave her, take everything I've given you and your people everything you have touched, and be gone from my sight." "Out of Egypt." "Then take your contamination with you." "Go." "Out." "Out." "Keep moving!" "Don't touch them." "Beware of the affliction!" "Come on!" "Hurry up!" "Out!" "Keep moving!" "Get those stinking dogs out of here." "Get back, don't touch them!" "Out." "Out." "And may you all rot in the desert!" "We've found it!" "Water!" "Water!" "Abram Lot's discovered water, and he" "You're back, Abram." "We are home, Mambre." "And you are digging wells." "We will need water." "And you have found more?" "Much more." "And we will share it with our neighbors." "And as our neighbors our friends are your friends, and our enemies are your enemies?" "Yes." "So be it." "Stop!" "You stop it as well!" "What have you done?" "You could have killed him." "Lot's men won't let us water our herds here." "Have you lost your minds?" "We are one family." "The water is for all of us." "I am ashamed of you, all of you." "And I hope that you are ashamed of yourselves." "My fellow" "But Lot's men" "Violence will not solve problems." "Now, the pastures beyond that river are overgrazed and turning brown." "If we do not leave enough grass, the spring rains will wash away the soil." "Then I must move my herds." "Move your herds?" "Uncle I prefer to keep what's yours and what's mine apart." "If they're mixed, it makes the counting more difficult." "The counting?" "Ah, yes, of course, of course." "The counting is important." "There isn't enough water for our herds." "The land is too small for both of us." "With respect, Lot, by dividing our people, we grow weaker." "Well, of course, you are free to choose." "If you go to the right, I will go to the left." "If you choose the left, I will go to the right." "Beyond that hill, there are green pastures along the river called the Jordan." "And there are cities." "I can go there to trade wool and skins." "But those merchants come here to trade with us." "Yes." "And they pay us less, whereas if I make the journey to them then I can get a better price." "Price?" "A better price?" "Oh, yes." "Yes, of course." "Price is important." "Well, so be it." "You go, then." "I will miss you." "I hope it brings you what you want." "But be cautious." "I have seen many cities, some better, some worse." "In none, however, have I felt a sense of fulfillment." "So keep your people outside the gates." "Thank you, uncle." "Gather the herds." "We're going." "He is my brother's son." "But he is like my own." "May God protect him." "The four kings!" "The four kings!" "They attacked Sodom." "The four kings." "They're coming." "Get some water." "Are you attempting to save this one's life?" "How very kind of you." "To whom do you owe allegiance?" "To Abram, the son of Terah." "But you're in the land of the King of Sodom." "For the water, the grass." "Good, is it?" "Well, you're wrong." "The grass of Sodom is as bitter as bile." "But soon it'll taste sweet when we water it with blood." "Seize tents, goods, animals." "Everything you can find." "These people have" "Shepherd you're moving to greener pastures." "Take them north as slaves." "Father--!" "Mother!" "My child." "There was a time long, long, long ago when all men on earth spoke the same language." "They came to a land called Shinar, and they said to each other:" ""Let us build a tower tall enough to rise above the clouds and touch God's heaven so we will be famous throughout the earth."" "So they worked and worked and worked, piling brick upon brick upon brick until God saw their arrogance and he was very angry." "So he made it so that they forgot their common language and began to speak in so many different tongues that they couldn't understand each other anymore:" "So confusion rose all around." "The tower was left halfway built and God scattered them across the face of the earth." "All of them separated by their different languages." "Abram." "Abram." "Lot and his people, they've been taken." "Get Mambre and his brothers." "Quickly." "This king thinks he's outrun the war." "He's posted no sentries." "It's a cold night." "They keep their faces towards the fire." "Circle to the hills in the north." "Eshcol to the west." "Aner to the east." "Be in place when the stars of the Scorpion are above us." "On my signal, we all attack at once." "How many are there, do you suppose?" "Too many." "But they don't know our number." "And there's no moonlight to betray us." "When your warriors attack, each man make the noise of five." "We will make the noise of 1 0." "Serug." "Come on, men!" "Follow!" "Come on, men!" "My nephew's not here." "Eliezer." "Gather what food you can." "Feed these people." "Talk to them." "Perhaps they might have news of the other kings." "No!" "Mistress." "He's dead!" "I saw him." "Abram." "He's dead!" "No." "No." "It was only a dream." "A bad dream." "No, he's dead!" "Through his heart...." "This fever burns your sleep." "No, I know the meaning of this sweat." "It's not fever." "I'm not a woman anymore." "He's not dead." "Yes, yes." "It's only dreams and fever." "He's dead." "Abram is not dead." "Look at me." "No, fool, look at me!" "I'm empty." "Old." "Dry." "Abram is dead and his seed's dead with him!" "Two of our men saw Lot and his family." "They're still alive." "Oh, God." "Are Mambre and his men in position?" "Not yet." "They'll give us a signal." "I'm afraid this time we are facing a greater danger." "These two kings are much stronger." "Eliezer." "Last night, a lance came close enough to me to taste death." "Years ago, my God promised me that I would father a great nation." "But his promise is still only a promise." "And now it is harvest time for death and if it should take me, I have no son to inherit the tribe." "No one to protect Sarai." "No one...." "Nothing." "I have made a decision that you will inherit." "Abram." "Abram." "I want your word that you will use all your wisdom to guide my people and your life to protect Sarai." "Abram, I give you my word, I will." "Kill!" "Kill!" "No mercy!" "Kill them!" "Serug, wait." "Let him go." "Who are you?" "Abram." "This man is my nephew." "So you want this?" "And his people." "Is that all?" "No." "His goods, his animals and all the prisoners you've taken." "What do I get in return?" "Your life." "I could take yours now." "Oh, yes, you could." "Then we would be even." "It's an interesting offer but only as honest as the man who makes it." "Let them go." "All of them." "Enough blood has been spilt." "We have got what we came for." "It will end here." "Move on!" "Get up!" "Now I've got a stallion!" "I don't think that your children should witness any of this." "Uncle Abram's right." "Take the girls back to the tent." "Goodbye, Abram." "Goodbye and thank you." "Praise be to Abram, conqueror of our enemies." "I, Bera, King of Sodom declare that because of your courage and valor you shall receive the riches and spoils of the battlefield." "A king's reward to a brave man." "I want none of it." "I fought only to free my nephew." "None of it?" "None of it." "I swore to the Lord God most high creator of heaven and earth that I would not take a string, a sandal-thong or any of the spoils of my victories." "They are yours." "Serug." "Leave the animals with the spoils." "Abram, aren't you forgetting something?" "My people, the prisoners you freed." "The people I freed are just that:" "Free." "Free to go where they choose." "Uncle, try to understand, we have a life here in Sodom." "We work hard, we earn well." "I can't leave now." "You, too, are free to choose." "Take care of your family." "They're back!" "They're back!" "I thought you were dead." "I would not desert you by dying." "I will never fail you." "But I've failed you." "I've not given you a son, and now it's too late." "The Lord has failed us." "No." "He has not failed us." "He kept his promises." "He's given us great victories with very few losses." "And I love you more than life itself." "My Lord God." "My Lord God, l" "I am afraid." "I am alone." "Tell me" "Tell me what you want of me." "Speak to me. I beg you." "Speak to me." "Fear not, for I am your shield." "Your reward shall be great." "Oh, my Lord God." "Why do you reward me?" "Why me?" "I have no child no son." "I am alone, and I will die alone." "Why do you bless me with your gifts?" "The heir to all you have given me will be Eliezer of Damascus." "He will inherit." "Abram." "Not Eliezer." "He will not be your heir." "Go to your altar, prepare a sacrifice and look toward heaven." "Number the stars." "So shall your descendants be." "I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you and your descendants this land to possess." "But how, O Lord?" "Without a son, how can I have descendants?" "Abram, I make this covenant with you:" "A son of your own flesh shall be your heir." "Blessed be Abram by the Lord most high maker of heaven and earth." "And blessed be the Lord most high who has delivered your enemies into your hands." "I come to you in the Lord's name." "I am Melchizedek." "King and the Lord's high priest of Salem." "I've brought you bread and wine." "I am grateful to you for your words." "The Lord most high?" "Creator of--?" "Heaven and earth." "Yes, and l" "Worship him." "Yes." "And you know him." "I...." "l have heard his voice..." "...and he has" "Given you these victories." "Victories, yes." "I praise the Lord for that." "But these victories" "Are bitter." "It's not by force alone that man finds his reward." "You have also won great wealth but you, Abram, have turned your back on it..." "...for it means" "Nothing." "Nothing." "Nothing compared to the vision he has opened to us." "A vision beyond our time." "You have found a home in this land and defended it." "The Lord be blessed." "You've met a man who understands you." "My good Lord sent him to me." "Come." "Come." "Mistress, how may we help you?" "Leave us, please." "Sit." "I need to ask a favor of you." "Of me, mistress?" "I'm your servant." "Anything you ask I must do." "I want this to be your choice so there's no strife between us." "You are Egyptian and may not understand the ways of my people." "If you agree, it is to this:" "Each night, you will come to my tent and lay with my husband." "You will do this until you are with child, and only until then." "When you give birth, you will do so sitting on my knees." "In this way, the child will be mine and only mine under the law." "Mistress." "I see no other way." "The Lord has prevented me from bearing children." "Take my servant that you and I might obtain a child by her." "Could you leave us alone?" "Please?" ""l will give you a son of your own flesh."" "Isn't it wonderful?" "More births this year than ever before." "And one more in the winter." "Hagar is with child." "I will have a son." "And what if it's a daughter?" "It will be a son as the Lord promised." "And we will raise him to be strong and wise." "I will give you your son." "Yes." "Yes." "This smells strange." "Just a pinch of herbs and lamb tastes." "Where did you find this?" "In places only an Egyptian knows." "What is that?" "I'm cooking something for Abram." "I do the cooking for my husband." "As I recall, this was the Pharaoh's favorite." "You enjoyed it with him many times, didn't you?" "Bury it." "What are you doing?" "What is that?" "A cradle." "For the child." "Made like that?" "A basket?" "But the reeds will tear his skin off." "I've lined it soft as a sparrow's nest." "I'll find one from the city made with fragrant cedar and Egyptian linen perfumed with crushed flowers." "I wouldn't raise a child in a thing like that." "Well, have no fear, he is mine to raise." "And it won't be in a perfumed box." "It will be according to our traditions." "This woman behaves as though she were the mistress and I the servant." "May the wrong done to me be done to you." "I gave my servant to your embrace and since the day she conceived, she's looked on me with contempt." "May the Lord be the judge between you and me." "Has an agreement not been made between you?" "Then between you, you must resolve it." "However, she is your servant, and you're entitled to do with her as you wish but in accordance to our law, an agreement must not be broken." "It is right that she respect not only our agreement but also the ways of our people." "You may go back to work." "Hagar!" "Hagar!" "Hag" "Serug, get some men." "Quickly." "Eliezer." "Hagar!" "Hagar!" "Hagar." "You know my name." "Where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm fleeing from my mistress." "You are with child and will bear a son and the Lord will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered." "Your son shall be a man the world cannot break, wild and unconquered his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him." "He shall rule in front of his brothers." "You shall call your son Ishmael meaning "God listens."" "Return to your mistress, Hagar, and submit to her." "Try further down the valley." "Don't worry, Abram, we'll find her." "Nothing?" "Nothing." "Nothing, nothing." "Hooray!" "She's back." "We were so worried." "Are you all right?" "Oh, thank God." "I have seen an angel of the Lord." "I shall have a son." "And his name shall be Ishmael." "You're doing well." "One more time." "You're very close." "That's it." "That's it." "You're doing it." "It's coming." "You know it's" "Okay." "Push, push." "Push." "All right." "Lean on me." "I'll do it for you." "On your knees, as agreed, but this is mine to do, alone." "Abram." "Abram." "Oh, yes." "My son my son." "Ishmael." "Ishmael." "Yes." "My son, my son." "Ishmael." "Ishmael, you must sacrifice something of great value to yourself." "Something that you love, something that you would risk your life for as you would this ram." "He is a handsome animal who could father many sheep that would add to your wealth." "But you will offer the life of this creature to God as a sign." "As a sign that shows the Lord that you put nothing of this world above him the Lord God most high." "Do you understand?" "Yes." "Now the ritual must be carried out properly." "The creature that you sacrifice must lie quietly, accepting the sacrifice." "Now." "You must bind him." "Good boy." "Now...." "Talk to him, son." "Touch him." "He is afraid, and he must not show his fear." "Talk to him." "There." "Good." "Now we will place him on the altar." "Now take his life." "Quickly." "Now, son you have hunted and killed many animals." "But this is different." "Yes." "And in your heart, it must feel very different." "Do it." "Now we will give thanks." "O my Lord, I give thanks." "I give thanks, O my Lord." "And which you give me anew each morning that I awake." "And which you give me anew each morning I awake." "And, my Lord I thank thee for my son, Ishmael who is brave and strong and will one day lead our people into the future." "May you always be with him." "Now we gather wood, and we'll burn the offering." "Abram." "I am your God." "And I will make my covenant between me and you." "No longer shall your name be Abram, "Man of Greatness " but Abraham, "Father of Nations " for I will make you the father of multitudes." "Kings shall come from you." "As for Sarai, your wife you shall no longer call her Sarai, "a princess " but Sarah, "a queen " and she shall be the "Mother of Nations. "" "Kings shall come from her for I will give you a son by her." "Lord." "Lord." "A man of my age?" "How can I have a child?" "And how can Sarai?" "Sarah shall bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac." "Isaac." "Isaac." "As for you this is my covenant, which you and your descendants shall keep." "Every male among you shall be circumcised in the flesh of the foreskin." "And this shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you." "So shall my covenant be in your flesh everlasting." "And I will give to your descendents the land of Canaan for everlasting possession." "We have guests." "Bring some water." "Welcome." "Welcome to my home." "Rest yourselves a while." "Let water be brought to wash your feet and food that you may warm your heart." "I thank you, Abraham, for your hospitality." "Where is your wife, Sarah?" "Sarah." "She's...." "She's in in the tent." "Abraham." "O my Lord if I have found favor in your heart and and in your sight do not pass your servant by." "Stay with me." "Let a bit of bread be brought that you may refresh yourself." "Do as you have said." "Bake bread." "Prepare the...." "Prepare the best food we have." "I will stay a while then return to you in one year." "And Sarah, your wife shall have a son." "Sarah." "Is there anything the Lord cannot do?" "Do you think you are too old to bear a child?" "Then why did you laugh?" "I did not laugh." "Oh, but you did laugh." "You will bear Abraham a son." "And you will call him Isaac, meaning "laughter."" "Lord." "Ishmael." "Do not worry about Ishmael." "Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly." "Twelve princes shall he beget." "And I will make him a great nation." "My Lord, will you not stay a while longer?" "I shall not hide from my friend Abraham, the Father of Nations, what I'm about to do." "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great." "The sins of which they are accused, very grave." "And I will go there to see if they, indeed have done according to these outcries." "My Lord." "Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?" "My Lord, suppose 50 righteous are within the city will you not spare the whole city for the 50 righteous who are in it?" "Far be it from the Lord to do such a thing to slay the righteous with the wicked." "If I find at Sodom 50 righteous, I will spare the whole city for their sake." "My Lord, I who am but dust and ashes should dare not ask but suppose five of the 50 are lacking?" "Will you destroy the whole city for the lack of five?" "I will not destroy it if I find 45 there." "O Lord, be not angry." "Suppose 40 are found there?" "For the sake of 40, I will not do it." "Suppose 30?" "I will not do it if I find 30." "Twenty?" "For the sake of 20, I will not destroy it." "My Lord." "My Lord, l" "May I speak again just this once?" "Suppose 1 0?" "For 1 0, I will not destroy it." "What of those that are without guilt?" "My Lord." "My Lord." "My Lord." "Here." "Over here." "Hello." "Where have you just come from?" "Here we are." "Come and see me." "Oh, stop that." "You are strangers here." "Welcome to our city." "I am at your service." "Why don't you come to my house and stay for the night and wash your feet." "Yes, do." "Then you may rise up early and go on your way." "We thank you, but we will spend the night in the street." "No. I beg you, my friends." "Not in these streets." "Come with us." "Come on, they're in Lot's house." "He cooks much better than I do." "We want your beautiful friends." "Lot!" "Where are the men who came to you tonight?" "Bring them out." "We want them to join us." "Lot, don't keep them all to yourself." "Lot?" "Lot." "These men are my guests." "Under my roof, my protection and my hospitality." "That's all right." "We'll show them both the hospitality of Sodom." "I beg you, my friends, don't do this." "Please." "I beg you, please don't do this, my friends." "This is not the sort of thing" "Friend." "Friend?" "You think we are your friends?" "You think you can buy our friendship?" "Take me." "Don't take them, take" "What did you say?" "Take me." "Don't take them." "Take me." "Now, there's an interesting offer." "Take you?" "Protecting a guest is a sacred duty." "You can take me, you can take my daughters, but you can't take my guests." "Happy night." "We can take them all." "My eyes." "My eyes!" "I can't see." "I can't see." "I'm blind." "Quickly." "Do not stop and do not look back." "Do not stop." "Flee to the hills." "Hurry." "Remember, do not look back or you will be consumed." "Quickly." "Quickly." "Keep moving." "Follow me and don't look back." "Into this cave." "Quickly." "God will give you what he's promised." "Suppose he gives me a son and he takes Sarah?" "Would you--?" "Would you go to her, please?" "Why?" "Why?" "She's" "She's labored night, day and the midwives won't tell me anything." "She could be in danger." "Please comfort her." "She'd take little comfort from me." "It's in God's hands." "Leave it there." "Abraham, tell me." "Have you found Ishmael to be an acceptable, deserving son?" "Ishmael?" "Acceptable?" "Deserving?" "O my God, he is a joy." "Why, then, for the 1 0 years since his birth have you and I hardly passed a word?" "Why have you never offered me a word of gratitude?" "Yes." "Yes." "Yes." "Would you forgive me?" "But now you speak." "Only now, when you want my help." "Your wife has servants enough." "And you see, they've done their job." "Go to her, Abraham." "And his name will be Isaac!" "Isaac!" "Isaac!" "Isaac!" "Ishmael." "Ishmael." "Ishmael." "Ishmael, take him now." "Ishmael, get him quick." "The winner, Ishmael!" "Serug, I challenge you to a joust." "You're feeling brave tonight, eh?" "Mother." "Mother, did you see what Ishmael did?" "Did you see it?" "Yes, Isaac. I saw." "He's very strong." "Come on." "Ishmael continues to amaze me with his skill and cunning." "He's become a natural leader." "Now let's see if Serug can teach him some manners with his staff." "Wait." "This isn't fair." "Why not?" "Isaac, come here. I need your help." "Hold on to my hair and watch Serug." "Don't let him trick me." "Now it's even." "Two against one." "Well done." "Now let's see what you can do with the bow and without any help." "I love you both." "Father." "Ishmael is taking the herds to the upper pasture tomorrow." "May I go with him?" "Of course." "It's wonderful." "It's wonderful." "The children." "God, I love those children." "Where is Isaac?" "Isaac?" "He's with Ishmael." "What is it, Sarah?" "I've seen something terrible tonight." "You're worried?" "About what?" "The future." "The future?" "The future." "The future." "The future?" "Whose?" "My son's." "I don't want Isaac going into the mountains alone." "He won't be going alone." "He'll be going with Ishmael." "I know." "Ishmael teaches Isaac something new every day." "When he comes back, he'll know as much about the herds as the best of our herdsmen." "And if he doesn't come back?" "Why wouldn't he come back?" "Ishmael would do what Hagar tells him to do." "And Hagar would do anything to put her son in our son's place." "The son that God gave us." "Sarah, Sarah." "You two have made no secret of your feelings towards each other." "That is ancient business." "Every man in the tribe is now ready to follow Ishmael into the teeth of death." "He's so much older than Isaac." "He's headstrong, fearless." "And then I looked at his mother." "Oh, husband." "Such dreadful ambition burns in Hagar's eyes." "Sarah." "Sarah." "In time, and not much of that, God will take us." "If we leave Isaac and Ishmael behind, who...?" "Who will inherit?" "Which of those two will lead?" "Isaac is God's choice." "He is the choice of God." "And he loves his brother." "Oh, yes, he does." "So much so that if Ishmael asked, Isaac would happily give away his birthright to please Ishmael, to follow Ishmael, to worship Ishmael." "Isaac is God's choice." "That is God's promise." "Tell me without us do you think little Isaac could stand up to Ishmael and his mother?" "How will God ensure it will be Isaac?" "Will he strike Hagar and Ishmael dead?" "You love both of your sons so much you don't see it." "I love them too." "But we created this problem." "And now God's put it in our hands to solve." "No, no." "I created the problem." "I did not have sufficient faith in the words of God." "Now the problem is ours to solve." "But how?" "How?" "Send them away." "What?" "Oh, yes." "Yes." "Yes, yes, send them away." "Send them away!" "For the protection of our son." "Send them away?" "I believe the words you spoke were not yours alone but God's will." "Mother and son will be gone in the morning." "Go with God." "Don't worry about us, Father." "I know how to survive." "Yes." "You learned well." "Hagar, Hagar." "Remember the words of the Lord:" ""Behold, I have blessed him." "And I will make him a great nation."" "What is it, son?" "Ishmael?" "You miss him?" "Me too." "You're worried about him?" "Me too." "Shall we ask God for his help?" "Yes, Father." "Pick a lamb you love as you love Ishmael, and we will offer its life for your brother's safety." "Will you choose or will I?" "I will." "Must it be one I love?" "Yes." "Must it be the one I love the most?" "As a sign of your faith." "Not today." "Not today, my son." "Not today." "God will provide for Ishmael." "God will provide." "Mother." "Hagar." "Fear not for God has heard the cries of Ishmael." "Arise." "Lift up your son and hold him fast." "For God shall make of him a great nation." "All the stars, they huddle together and they take the shape of little animals." "The ram comes first." "Then after, comes the scorpion the goat and the fish." "Now, knowing where the stars are and where they go in their movement helps us to journey at night." "Now, sometimes..." "...they can help us to win a battle." "Eliezer!" "Did you know that the stars are like little animals in the night sky?" "No wonder there are so many." "Get your bow and arrow." "It's time to practice." "Yes, sir." "He's got so much to learn and I so little time to teach him." "But his mind is wonderful." "He's so fast in understanding, and his memory so quick to grasp, to hold." "Yes, Abraham." "No matter what I do." "There's something that needs your interest." "Look how well he's learning to ride." "I've never seen a child or indeed a man with such a mastery over animals." "One word, one whisper, and they do anything he asks." "He rides very well, but if I could" "It's more than a skill." "Isaac has a gift." "He was born with it, I believe." "A power over beasts that's magical." "Higher with the bow." "Abraham, may I interrupt you?" "Yes, yes, yes." "What is it?" "Serug's boy is 8 days old now." "They're waiting for you to do the circumcision." "Yes, yes, well...." "It's a simple thing." "You do it." "But it's not my place." "Good shot." "Good shot." "Well, then, the father, they've seen me do it a hundred times." "But it's Serug." "He wants you." "When will they understand?" "Can't you see I'm busy?" "Every day they're growing more like children." "And you more and more like a stranger." "Sarah's been talking to you." "Yes." "l thought so." "Well, I will tell you what I told her." "Isaac will lead our people." "And soon." "Soon, I think." "He is my only son now." "And I want every day I have to prepare him." "And nothing is more important than that." "Do you understand?" "Nothing." "Yes." "Eliezer." "I will not disappoint my god again." "Again?" "There were times in the past when I believed that he had abandoned me." "But it was I who had abandoned him." "And I will not disappoint him again." "Isaac, come." "Come with the bow." "Come, let me show you." "Let me show you how to string the bow." "Abraham." "Here I am, Lord." "Take your son Isaac and go to the land of Moriah." "To a mountain there, which I will show you." "And offer him as a burnt sacrifice." "Lord?" "Offer him as a burnt sacrifice." "Lord, Lord...." "Offer him as a burnt sacrifice?" "My Lord." "My Lord." "Offer Isaac as a burnt sacrifice?" "Why, Lord?" "O my Lord!" "Why?" "You will stay here." "My son and I will go up and worship." "And then we will...." "We will come back down to you." "Father, there are no sheep up this high." "Did you bring the flint to make a fire?" "Yes." "We have wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" "God will provide the lamb." "Hold out your arms, Isaac." "Tie me tightly, Father." "O God give me the strength to do what I must." "Abraham." "Do not harm your child." "For now I know that you fear God." "Seeing that you've not withheld your son your beloved son." "My son!" "My son." "My son." "My son." "I will bless you and I will multiply your descendants as the sand which is upon the seashore as the stars of the heavens above." "[ENGLISH]"