[After Moses saves Sephora and beats the Amalekites]
Let them be first whose hands have drawn the water.
Sephora The stranger is wise… [Looks over at the beaten men] …and strong.
Played by Yvonne De Carlo 
The Ten Commandments (1956) · 94 quotes
The Ten Commandments (1956) · 94 quotes
Tied for 7th most-quoted character in The Ten Commandments (1956): in 7 of its 94 quotes
Most scenes with: Moses (5), Joshua (3)
Scenes with Sephora
7 scenes Sephora At such a time, has any man ever gone to see Him [God] face to face?
Sephora No man has ever set foot on the forbidden slopes of Sinai. Why do you want to see Him, Moses?
To know that He is. And if He is, to know why He has not heard the cries of slaves in bondage.
Sephora Moses, it would be death to look upon His face.
How many of my people have died because He has turned away His face?
Sephora Can a man judge God? No, Moses. We cannot see His whole purpose. Even Ishmael did not know that God drove him into the desert to be the father of a nation. Is it not enough to know that He had saved you from the Pharaoh’s anger?
How do you know that?
Sephora You walk like a prince. And you fight like a warrior. And there is word in the caravans of a great one who was driven out of Egypt.
This is not the scepter of a prince, but the staff of a wanderer.
Sephora Then rest from wandering. My father has many flocks and no son to tend them. There would be peace of spirit for you, Moses, in our tents beneath the Holy Mountain.
You have strong faith in this God, Sephora. But for me, there is no peace of spirit until I hear the Word of God, from God Himself.
Sephora Which of my sisters did you choose?
I made no choice, Sephora.
Sephora She was very beautiful, wasn’t she? This woman of Egypt who left her scar upon your heart. Her skin was white as curd. Her eyes, green as the cedar of Lebanon. Her lips, tamarisk honey. Like the breast of a dove, her arms were soft. And the wine of desire was in her veins.
Yes. She was beautiful, as a jewel.
Sephora A jewel has brilliant fire, but gives no warmth. Our hands are not so soft, but they can serve. Our bodies not so white, but they are strong. Our lips are not perfumed, but they speak the truth. Love is not an art to us. It’s life to us. We are not dressed in gold or fine linen. Strength and honor are our clothing. Our tents are not the marbled halls of Egypt, but our children play happily. We can offer you little, but we offer all we have.
I have not little, Sephora. I have nothing.
Sephora Nothing from some is more than gold from others.
You would fill the emptiness of my heart?
Sephora I could never fill all of it, Moses. But I shall not be jealous of a memory.
[Moses takes her hand and puts his marriage band around her arm]
Is the holy mountain forbidden to men?
Sephora Yes. And I am afraid for him.
Did He ask something of you?
That I go to Egypt.
You are God’s messenger! He has set the day of deliverance. I will get water and bread that we may leave at once.
Sephora But Egypt holds death for you.
If it be His will.
Sephora Where He sends you, I shall go. Your God is my God.
I will lead men against the armory at Migdol and get swords for the people!
It is not by the sword that He will deliver His people, but by the staff of a shepherd.
You need have no fear of me.
Sephora I feared only his memory of you.
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.
[Last lines]
The Lord was angry with me because I disobeyed Him by the waters of strife. And He said unto me, "Behold the new land with thine eyes, for thou shalt not cross over this River Jordan".
Sephora Then I shall stay.
I am called by the Lord, Sephora. I go alone.
Sephora Look, Moses. The people have come to the River Jordan. In the ark, they carry the law you brought them. You taught them not to live by bread alone. You are God's torch that lights the way to freedom. I love you.
Joshua. [gives the staff and the Levite cloth to Joshua] Joshua, I charge you and strengthen you, for you shall go over Jordan to lead the people.
As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.
Mered, give me the books. Eleazar, set these five books in the Ark of the Covenant by the tablets of the Ten Commandments, which the Lord restored unto us. [bids farewell] Go, proclaim liberty throughout all the lands, unto all the inhabitants thereof! [walks away to the top of Mount Nebo]
