The Bloody Nile

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people. 00:00:03 Speaker 2: I do not know this God of yours, who is the lord that I should obey. 00:00:10 Speaker 3: I am the image of Rah, the Lord of the Nile. 00:00:14 Speaker 2: The sun rises and sets according to my greatness. I will not let your people go. Moses, I do not acknowledge this God of yours. 00:00:27 Speaker 4: Treadlightly, Rameses, the God of the Hebrews will not relent. 00:00:33 Speaker 5: Is that a threat, Moses? 00:00:36 Speaker 4: It is not a threat. It is a promise. 00:00:42 Speaker 6: Pharaoh has refused to respond to me, but he will in time. For now, I shall make you like a god to Pharaoh, an adversary. He can see and hear. Your brother, Aaron shall be your proper. He shall speak and perform wonders on your behalf. He shall tell Pharaoh to let my people go. 00:01:11 Speaker 4: These mere tricks will not bend my will, Moses. 00:01:15 Speaker 3: I will not let your people go. Their burdens will continue to increase until their spines shatter and their hope breaks. 00:01:24 Speaker 5: They will know that I am Pharaoh. 00:01:28 Speaker 3: Undisputed and unchangeable. My will is final. 00:01:35 Speaker 7: I the soul is as steady as the stones that have built my empire. 00:01:41 Speaker 3: I am my God. 00:01:43 Speaker 8: I will not be volved. 00:01:44 Speaker 3: Do not question my power. 00:01:47 Speaker 4: You only think you have power. 00:01:51 Speaker 6: What will happen now, Moses, What will the law do next? 00:01:55 Speaker 4: Pharaoh's heart is as hard as the stones that build his demnire. He was chosen to defy the hand. 00:02:03 Speaker 8: Now the river will run red, and the Egypt will tremble over the hand of Idem. 00:02:17 Speaker 1: The Nile flowed like a vein of life through the sun drenched heart of Egypt, its waters glimmering beneath the weight of Ra's gaze. The reeds that fringed its banks whispered in the hot wind. On this morning, the court of Pharaoh had assembled upon the river's edge. Their eyes were fixed upon their king. The entire assembly was transfixed by him. 00:02:44 Speaker 6: Pharaoh, Lord of. 00:02:45 Speaker 1: The Two Lands, son of Ra, stood tall and splendid at the head of the gathering, his skin burnished by the sun, gleamed with sacred oils, his eyes coalined and severe, seen to drink in the world around him, as if he could command the very earth and sky to bow before him. Behind him, Nebermunn and his priests, arrayed in white linen and leopard skins, chanted hymns in the ancient tongue. Their voices rose and fell like the very waters of the Nile. Incense curled in the air, thick with the sense of frankincense, and lur its smoke, twisting like serpents, before dissipating into the arid sky. The statues of the gods glared with the cold painted eyes of Eternity, Osiris with his green skin and white crown, Hathaor with her horns and sun disk, and Horus, the falcon headed god, who watched with sharp eyes. As the ceremony unfolded, Pharaoh stepped forward, his sandals pressing into the wet earth, and he raised his arms to the heavens. Sweat bead his brow, but he did not. 00:04:02 Speaker 5: Waver, great and mighty Gods, here your son, no one who speaks with your tongues, who walks with your feet upon this sacred ground. 00:04:14 Speaker 1: The priests behind him echoed his words, their voices rising in a powerful wave that swept through the gathered people. The onlookers knelt in reverence, for to see Pharaoh perform the rites was to witness the divine made flesh. Pharaoh was not just a king. He was the living god on earth, the intermediary between the mortal world and the celestial realms. He turned his gaze to the waters of the Nile, the great river upon which all life in Egypt depended. In its currents lay the secrets of death and rebirth, the pulse of a civilization that had thrived for a thousand years. 00:04:58 Speaker 3: Happy, Great God of the Nile, bringer of life and the bounty. I stand before you as your chosen one, as the sun who guards your waters, then honors your flow. Hear me now, and let your blessings fall upon my land. Let your waters rise, Let the flood come in its season, so that Egypt may be nourished, and our granaries may burst with grain, and our fields swell with green. 00:05:32 Speaker 1: Nebmund moved forward, bearing a large golden chalice filled with the blood of a sacrificial bull, an offering to Happy. The blood was fresh, still warm, and its scent was coppery. 00:05:46 Speaker 6: And thick in the heat. 00:05:47 Speaker 1: They handed the chalice to Pharaoh, who raised it high for all to see. His lips moved in silent prayer, his eyes closed in concentration. Then, with swift motion, he poured the blood into the Nile. The crimson liquid splashed against the dark water, mingling with the river's flow. As if to bind the gods to his will. A hush fell over the assembly, the air taut with anticipation. The people held their breath, waiting for a sign, a blessing, or perhaps a curse. The Niles waters seemed to ripple more violently for a moment, as if something ancient and unseen stirred beneath its surface. Rameses turned to the crowd, gesturing to the water as if its current was a result of his power. With arrogance dripping from his paws, he regarded them. 00:06:45 Speaker 3: See my people happy, accepts my offering. The gods favor me. The river will rise, the fields will prosper, and the people of Egypt will know abundance. I the image Chavas, have wheeled the prosperity of our nation into existence. 00:07:10 Speaker 1: As the priests sang their praises, the winds shifted and a sudden chill seemed to pass over the assembly. Then the crowd stirred. Pharaohs sent something, a tremor in the air, a whisper of something that did not belong. His brow furrowed and his smile faded. He turned back to the Nile, watching as the waters now swirled with a strange, murky eddy, as if the river itself resisted his command. It was then that the strangers came a pair of shadowed figures descending the slope toward the other side of the river. Moses, the man who had once been a member of his household, now a shepherd turned desert prophet, and beside him Aaron, the brash slave, with eyes gleaming like the edge of a newly forged blade. They walked with a purpose that set Pharaoh's teeth on edge, their steps unhurried yet filled with an unmistakable sense of destiny. The high priest Nebermund stepped forward. 00:08:21 Speaker 9: Moses, have you come again to disturb the peace? You were raised in Pharaoh's house? 00:08:30 Speaker 4: You, of all people, should know what. 00:08:32 Speaker 9: It means to cross a king of Egypt. Speak now, and speak wisely. 00:08:40 Speaker 1: Moses stood at the edge of the river, his face shadowed beneath the folds of his robe. Aaron stood beside him, voice able to boom with authority. The wind carried his commands to Pharaoh and his priests. 00:08:55 Speaker 10: Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. But too long you have kept them in bondage, and too long have you defied the will of the almighty. 00:09:15 Speaker 1: Neberman's lips curled into a smile, but it was a smile without warmth. 00:09:22 Speaker 9: Look where you are, slave, You are on the banks of the Nile, where the blood of the gods beats from their hearts to the veins of this great nation. You are a fool to think your God holds any power here. He is but a single voice among many. 00:09:44 Speaker 6: His voice speaks to you. 00:09:45 Speaker 10: Now you would be wise to hear him. Thus declares the voice of our God. By this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters of the Nile with the staff in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood. 00:10:05 Speaker 1: Nebbermann turned and whispered into Pharaoh's ear. 00:10:08 Speaker 9: These slaves, dear, challenge you on the banks of the great Nile. 00:10:14 Speaker 1: Aaron stepped forward, his expression as hard and unyielding as the ancient stones of the temples. In his hand, he held a long, weathered staff that seemed to thrum with a power older than the earth itself. Without a word, he stretched out his hand over the waters of the Nile, and the staff descended with a force that sent vernus across the surface. For a heartbeat, there was nothing. Then a tremor ran through the waters, as if the river itself had drawn a deep, shuddering breath. The onlookers gasped as the clear blue green currents of the Nile began to darken. The color shifted deepened, turning from blue to a murky red. The transformation was slow at first, almost subtle, but then it spread like fire through dry reeds. The river was becoming thick and plotted, a red so dark it was nearly black, like the blood of a freshly slain bull left too long in the sun. The priests and magicians muttered to each other, eyes widening with disbelief. The stench of iron and decay filled the air, and the fish in the river began to thrash wildly, as if possessed by some unseen madness. Some left clear of the water, desperate to escape, only to flop onto the muddy banks, their gills opening and closing in a pitiful struggle, until they lay still, bloated and stinking beneath the sun. 00:11:52 Speaker 9: You, he dots, the Nile is the life source of our children. 00:11:59 Speaker 8: Ah Oh, dear. 00:12:01 Speaker 10: You snile ran red with the blood of Hebrew children. Long ago. The Lord heard their cries. He is not forgotten what Pharaoh did. Let this be assigned to you, and what is to come if you do not relent. 00:12:17 Speaker 1: Pharaoh's face twisted in fury when he saw the Nile, but he held his ground. 00:12:23 Speaker 6: He would not. 00:12:24 Speaker 1: Show weakness, not before these men, and certainly not before these peasants who watched with wide fearful eyes. 00:12:33 Speaker 3: Magicians share these Hebrews what it means to challenge the gods of Egypt. 00:12:40 Speaker 1: Nebbermann and the magicians stepped forward, their faces set with a cold determination. They raised their staffs and chanted words of power, invoking the ancient spirits of the river and the hidden gods of the deep. And indeed, by their tricks and arts, they too turned small pods of water to blood, smirking as they did so, their eyes darting to Pharaoh for approval. But the river, the Great Nile itself, remained a rolling torrent of dark, foul blood. The magician's eyes flickered with uncertainty, and their hands trembled upon their staffs, and the people began to murmur and fear. To wood where arrogance had once rained. Moses stepped closer and raised his voice. 00:13:30 Speaker 4: Don't see, ramsays, the gods of Egypt have no power before the Lord. Wok look a, they plead, this is but the first of many signs. Let my people go that they may serve him. 00:13:47 Speaker 6: You'll learn greatly. 00:13:51 Speaker 3: You may have your tricks, Moses, but I will not be moved by them. 00:13:57 Speaker 6: Nansis, are you. 00:14:01 Speaker 4: Look what's happening. 00:14:03 Speaker 3: Silence, traitor, or I shall add to the river with your blood. 00:14:09 Speaker 1: Moses watched Pharaoh's gaze turn from anger to hatred. He wondered why Rameses hadn't yet commanded his men to seize him, But then he realized that Pharaoh must have feared what the Lord would do if he harmed Moses. Pharaoh played the part of the god, but he was beginning to realize who he was dealing with. 00:14:31 Speaker 7: Relent Rumor lends, your people will feel my heel deg further into their throats. 00:14:42 Speaker 3: What my people lose, and these sources will be taken from Daushan. 00:14:48 Speaker 1: Pharaoh spun on his heel, his red and white crown catching the sun as he stormed away from the river. His priests and courtiers trailing behind him like a shadow. The was thick with tension, the stench of blood, and the whispers of something far older than Egypt. The people lingered, afraid to leave, afraid to stay, watching as the Nile ran red with death. Moses and Aaron remained by the riverbank, watching Pharaoh depart. 00:15:20 Speaker 7: They knew what. 00:15:21 Speaker 1: Was coming, and they knew this was only the beginning. The Lord had spoken, and his words were as inexorable as the rising of the sun. Judgment had come to Egypt, and its king would soon learn that no crown could shield him from the wrath of the Almighty. This prey Dog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People, rated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland, Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Leshinsky. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith. Written by Aaron Salvado, bre Rosalie and Chris Bag. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot Com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google play Store. If you enjoyed the Chosen People, please rate and leave a review.