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Elijah: Ahab & The Dogs · The Chosen People

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Previously on The Chosen People. You don't understand, Jezebel. I
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: wanted it. I offered him a better vineyard. I offered
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: him money.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: I was generous.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: But Naboth won't sell.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: He said it was his family's inheritance.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Some nonsense about Yahweh's law.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Then don't ask him. Just take it. Who's to stop you?
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: And at the center of the elders was Naboth, the
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: owner of the vineyard Ahab so desperately coveted. The elders
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: had called him there to stand trial. What?
• 0:44
  Speaker 5: No, no, this is false.
• 0:47
  Speaker 6: I've done nothing of the sort.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: The first stone was thrown, and it struck Naboth's shoulder,
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: knocking him off balance. The second hit his ribs, knocking
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: the wind from his lungs. Then came the third, then
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: the fourth, then came the dogs. They lapped at the blood,
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: indifferent to the weight of the moment, indifferent to the
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: crime that had been committed.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: First murder, then theft. What's next? Will you steal that
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: cripple's crutch?
• 1:20
  Speaker 6: Snatch a widow's last coin?
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: Maybe ransack an orphanage while you're at it?
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Enough!
• 1:28
  Speaker 6: Thus says the Lord God of heaven and earth, the
• 1:30
  Speaker 6: God of the nation you claim to rule. In the
• 1:34
  Speaker 6: very spot where the dogs licked up Neboth's blood, they
• 1:37
  Speaker 6: will lap up your blood.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, yours, Ahab.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: Ahab still heard the dogs. The prophecy had been years ago,
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: spoken in that ragged voice, Elijah's voice, a voice that
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: never seemed to be in a hurry. And yet it
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: ran like a thread through Ahab's nightmares. In between the
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: wine-soaked feasts and the hours he spent staring at the
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: walls of his palace, half drunk and half praying to
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: a god he didn't really believe in.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: Thus says the Lord God of heaven and earth, the
• 2:21
  Speaker 6: God of the nation.
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: You claim the rule.
• 2:24
  Speaker 6: In the very spot where the dogs licked up Neboth's blood,
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: they will lap up your blood.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Yes, your slinger.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: Sometimes in the dark hours of the night, Ahab thought
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: he could hear them, just faintly. A slithering sound, a slow,
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: wet lapping, somewhere in the corridors, somewhere behind the walls.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: He'd had a servant beaten to death once for bringing
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: dogs into the palace. There had been no dogs, but
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: the sound had still not gone away.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: But there were.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Distractions for the king of Israel. The great hall was
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: an offence to subtlety. A hundred gold-laden sycophants, wrapped in
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: robes the colour of crushed pomegranates and saffron, swayed and
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: applauded as the prophets, Ahab's prophets, performed their revelations. It
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: was a spectacle, a theatre of divinity, staged for a
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: god who wasn't there. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat among
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: the velvet and the grandeur, his posture stiff. Jehoshaphat was
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: a man of war. He was a descendant of David
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: after all. The men in Ahab's halls had never seen
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: such a specimen. Across the room, Zedekiah, the self-proclaimed chief
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: of the prophets, lifted a pair of iron goat horns
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: over his head. His wild voice filled the hall with
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: a guttural roar.
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: Thus says Yahweh, with these.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: You shall go, the Armenians, until they are utterly destroyed.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: Victory is yours, O king.
• 4:15
  Speaker 7: The gods have declared it.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: King Jehoshaphat exhaled through his nose, resisting the urge to
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: rub his temples. He had tolerated much from Ahab. His theatrics,
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: his excess, his endless parade of bootlicking prophets. But this,
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: this was embarrassing. A court full of sycophants, hollering nonsense,
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: waving iron horns like madmen.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: It was a farce.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: And thanks to his son's marriage to Ahab's daughter, he
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: was technically chained to this disaster of a king by family.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: a decision he regretted with every passing moment. He straightened
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: in his seat, voice cutting through the noise like a
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: blade slipped between ribs.
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: Are these truly the Lord's prophets? Is there not one more?
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: A prophet who shows, perhaps, a bit more devotion to
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: the God of Israel?
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: There is one man, Micaiah, son of Imla, But I
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: hate him.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: Hate him?
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  Speaker 2: He never prophesies good concerning.
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: The only evil.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: You know, Ahab, my father once told me a king
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: who only listens to yes-men will soon hear nothing but
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: war drums and wailing widows.
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: Fine.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Bring him.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: Micaiah was exactly where one would expect a prophet of
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: God to.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Be in Ahab's kingdom. Prison.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: The messenger arrived in a rush, the cell door swinging open,
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: dust swirling in the dim light.
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: Micaiah, please listen to me.
• 6:09
  Speaker 7: This should be good.
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: All the other prophets have spoken favorably to the king.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: You should do the same.
• 6:17
  Speaker 7: Oh, should I?
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: Do you want to die in this cell?
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: Do you want to make this harder than.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: It has to be?
• 6:26
  Speaker 7: Whatever the Lord says, I will speak.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: The messenger exhaled sharply, muttered a curse under his breath,
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: and gestured for Micaiah to follow. The hall was a painting.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Gold silk, wine dark reds, and prophets swaying in divine ecstasy.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: Micaiah stepped inside, still dust-covered from captivity, his presence like
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: a crack in the grand illusion. He took his time
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: looking around. His gaze landed on Zedekiah and the iron
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: horn still perched atop his head. Micaiah snorted. Ahab, draped
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: in gold and shadow, watched him from his throne, a
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: goblet in hand, his knuckles tight around the stem.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Well, well, well, if it isn't my dear friend Micaiah,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: the light of my life, the joy of my court. Truly,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: my day would be incomplete without.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Your delightful presence.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Tell me, prophet, shall we go to war at Ramoth Gilead,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: or shall we refrain?
• 7:43
  Speaker 7: What a difficult question, my king. What could possibly be
• 7:50
  Speaker 7: the right answer? Oh, I'm getting a prophetic word. Go
• 8:00
  Speaker 7: up and triumph, O king. Yahweh will absolutely deliver you
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: into your hands. Guaranteed. Nothing to worry about. I'd stake
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: my reputation on it.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Huzzah!
• 8:17
  Speaker 7: Praise Ahab!
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: Shut up, you idiots!
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: He's obviously mocking us. Unless you want to rot in
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: that cell forever, you tell me what our God actually says.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: There it was, the moment Micaiah had been waiting for.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: There was a peculiar kind of joy in watching Ahab,
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: a man so committed to his own delusions, demand honesty.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: It was like watching a drunk beg for water, but
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: slap it away the moment it touched his lips. Micaiah
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: offered him a slow, knowing smile, the kind that suggested
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: he had been planning this exact moment for years.
• 9:06
  Speaker 7: Oh, the truth. You wound me, oh king. Here I
• 9:12
  Speaker 7: thought you preferred the comfort of well-rehearsed lies.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: He made a grand, exaggerated gesture, as if parting the
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: very veil between heaven and earth.
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  Speaker 7: Very well. Hear ye, hear ye. I saw all Israel
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: scattered on the mountains like sheep with no shepherd. And lo,
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: Yahweh himself did speak, saying, These have no master. Let
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: them return to their homes in peace.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: A breathless pause. The weight of it settled into the room,
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: thick and suffocating. The words sank into Ahab's gut like
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: stones thrown into deep water.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: What did I tell you, Jehoshaphat? His proclamations are never good.
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: Always evil.
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: Yes, Ahab, what a terrible injustice. The prophet of Yahweh
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: refusing to lie to you. How do you bear such suffering?
• 10:12
  Speaker 7: I saw the Lord seated upon his throne and all
• 10:15
  Speaker 7: the hosts of heaven, the spiritual beings, stood before him,
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: one to his right, one to his left. And the
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: Lord said, Who will entice Ahab that he might go
• 10:29
  Speaker 7: up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: He let the words linger, glancing at Ahab, who now
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: gripped his goblet so tightly it threatened to shatter.
• 10:41
  Speaker 7: Oh, but don't worry, my king. There was some discussion.
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: A few ideas tossed around, one suggested this, another suggested that.
• 10:50
  Speaker 7: But then a spirit came forward, bold, certain, and this
• 10:55
  Speaker 7: particular spirit said, I will entice him, my lord. So
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: Yahweh asked, by what means? And the spirit, oh my
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: dear king, the spirit smiled and said, I will go
• 11:11
  Speaker 7: and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all
• 11:14
  Speaker 7: Ahab's prophets. And Yahweh said, Very good. You will succeed
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  Speaker 7: in enticing him.
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  Speaker 1: Go and do it.
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  Speaker 7: So now behold, look around you. Think, Ahab. There's a
• 11:32
  Speaker 7: reason all these fools only tell you what you want
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: to hear. The Lord has put a lying spirit in
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  Speaker 7: the mouths of all these prophets of yours. Yahweh has
• 11:44
  Speaker 7: decreed your ruin.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: The silence that followed was the kind that settled in
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: the bones, the kind that wrapped around the lungs and squeezed.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Ahab's face twitched, but before he could speak, Zedekiah stormed forward,
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: his ornate robes billowing like a child playing dress-up in
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: a king's closet. His fury was immediate, personal. A man
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: who had just realized he was the punchline of a
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: joke he hadn't understood.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: His hand cracked.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: Across Micaiah's cheek, the slap reverberating through the chamber like
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: a gavel striking doom.
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  Speaker 7: Insolent whelp!
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  Speaker 2: Tell me, which way did the spirit of Yahweh go
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: when he left me to speak to you?
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: The prophets gasped, the courtiers flinched, the guards stiffened. Micaiah smiled,
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: a slow, knowing, infuriating smile. He turned his head back
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: to Zedekiah, rubbing his jaw as though trying to decide
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: whether the slap was worth responding to.
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: Oh, you'll find out. One day soon. When you're hiding
• 12:59
  Speaker 7: in your chambers like a soiled little child, Weeping for
• 13:03
  Speaker 7: your mother.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: For a fraction of a second, Zedekiah stood frozen, as
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: if the very breath in his lungs had turned to lead.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: His face twisted, rage, fear, denial all warring behind his eyes.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: He wanted to laugh, to strike Mekhiar again, to prove
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: this was nonsense. But the words hung there, a rotten
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: thing in the air. Suddenly, Ahab was on his feet,
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: screaming orders, clinging to control like a man drowning in
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: his own power.
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  Speaker 6: Guards!
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: Seize him! Take him back to rot in his cell!
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Feed him nothing but bread and water until I return
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: in victory.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: Micaiah tilted his head, gaze flickering toward the throne as
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: if considering something, and then, Softly, with the patience of
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: a man who already knew how this story would end,
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: he said.
• 14:06
  Speaker 7: If you return in victory, God has not spoken through me.
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: Mark my words, the only one who will be victorious
• 14:15
  Speaker 7: in this story is Yahweh, not you.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Ahab's left eye twitched as if something inside him was
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: about to break. He did not speak. He simply pointed
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: to the door with a trembling finger. The guards grabbed
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Micaiah's arms violently, hauling him toward the door, but the
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: prophet did not resist. He did not struggle. He did
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: not beg or plead. He just turned his head back
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: toward Ahab and smiled. Ahab wanted to scream. He wanted
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: to vomit, but he just stared. eyes twitching, and somewhere
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: beneath the guard's footsteps, beneath the incense, beneath the wine
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: and the gold and the desperation, Ahab could hear it again,
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: the slow wet sound of dogs lapping at the ground.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: The battlefield stretched wide and barren under the weight of
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: a brutal sun. The air was thick with heat, the
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: kind that made armor unbearable, made every breath feel like
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: sucking in dust and copper into your lungs. In the distance,
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: the warhorns blared, low and guttural, the kind of sound
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: that sent something primal crawling up the spine. Soldiers shifted uneasily,
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: sweat trickling down the backs of their necks, waiting for
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: the moment when waiting.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Would end and dying would begin.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: Ahab stood at the center of it all, wrapped in
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: the heavy, sickly stench of fate closing in.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: He was not stupid. He knew.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: He had known since the moment Micaiah had spoken, maybe
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: even before that. The words of Elijah had never left
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: him always somewhere in the back of his mind, gnawing, whispering.
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: In the very spot where the dogs licked up Neboth's blood.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: They will lap up your blood. He had tried to forget.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: He had drowned them in wine, in power, in the
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: bodies of women who would never be Jezebel. But no
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: amount of conquest or cruelty had changed the truth. God
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: was against him. The ground beneath his feet was already
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: a grave, but Ahab was not the kind of man
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: to go quietly. He was the son of the great Omri,
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: king of Israel. He would not be made a spectacle.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: He would not be an easy prophecy. He turned to Jehoshaphat,
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: who sat astride his horse in his royal robes, draped
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: in the colors of Judah, looking every bit the king
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: Ahab had failed to be.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: You should wear your robes into battle.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Let them see their king.
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: And what will you wear?
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Something less conspicuous.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: Jehoshaphat did not like this. He did not like much
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: about today, about the way Ahab moved like a man
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: trying to cheat death. But what could he say? He
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: knew Ahab was a dead man, whether he wore his
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: crown or not. The battle began swiftly. The armies clashed.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: It was confusion and steel, cries of agony and the
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: wet sounds of men breaking open. For the soldiers, the
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: world shrank down to what was right in front of you,
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: what was trying to kill you, what you had to
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: kill first. There was no thinking, no strategy, just the raw.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Violence of the moment.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: Ahab moved through the carnage like a man with something
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: to prove. He fought harder than he had in years,
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: maybe harder than he ever had. Maybe, he thought, if
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: he could make it through this battle, if he could
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: turn the tide, if he could be the hero just
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: this once, maybe the weight of everything, the ruin of
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: his reign, the mockery of his marriage, the weakness of
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: his legacy could be rewritten in blood. It was almost convincing.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: Until the arrow. It was not an act of skill.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: It was not the hand of a great warrior, some
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: noble assassin taking fate into his own hands. No, it
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: was some nameless Aramean soldier, pulling back his bow, loosing
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: an arrow into the sky without aim, without reason, without expectation.
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: The arrow arced high, silent and swift, an instrument of judgment,
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: an afterthought in the chaos. And then, almost impossibly, it
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: found its home. Right between the plates of Ahab's armor.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: For a moment, Ahab did not move. He did not
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: even register it.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: Then... A slow, creeping fire spread through his chest, and
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: he knew. He knew before he even looked down.
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: No.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: His breath caught.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: His hand trembled as he reached for the shaft protruding
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: from his ribs.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: It was... deep. Too deep. He could feel the warmth already.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: The blood spilling out, filling his armour like a cup
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: being poured out.
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: No.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: No, no, no.
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: The chariot rocked as he sagged against its frame. His
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: servant turned, horror creeping into his eyes.
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: My king, we must get you out.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Hold the line. My lord, we must... Hold the line.
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: The battle raged on, and Ahab, the dead man still standing,
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: stayed in his chariot. The arrow lodged in his body
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: like a final act of defiance. The pain became everything.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: It hollowed him out. It took his vision and turned
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: the edges black. But he gripped the side of his chariot,
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: forcing himself upright.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: He would not fall. Not yet.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: Hour by hour, the blood pooled at his feet, thick
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: and warm, sloshing with every movement of the chariot. He
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: could smell it, taste it. His men fought. His kingdom bled.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: And Ahab?
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: Ahab sat in the ruin of himself, staring at the sky,
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: feeling the slow pull of the end. At sunset, the
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: weight was too much. His fingers slipped from the frame,
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: his body crumpling forward.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: It won't be long now, before the dogs come.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: His servant did not answer. He could not bear to.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: And as the chariot rolled through the battlefield, the blood
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: of King Ahab dripped down into the earth. The battlefield
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: had no use for kings. It consumed men without preference.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: The wind whispered through the broken bodies, lifting the dust,
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: carrying the scent of old blood and new decay. Ahab's
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: body was just another among them now. He had spent
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: his life clothed in gold, but now there was no throne,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: no kingdom, no Jezebel to whisper in his ear. There
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: was only the cold weight of his corpse sagging where
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: it lay. The soldiers worked in silence, their hands moving
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: with the detached precision of men accustomed.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: To handling the dead. The captain... A man who.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Had followed Ahab into every war since he was a
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: boy knelt beside the body, fingers grimy with dust and
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: dried blood as he unfastened the last buckle of the
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: king's armour. It was a cursed thing now, tainted by
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: prophecy and failure. A cadet, younger, less hardened, hesitated as
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: they lifted the lifeless weight. They heaved his body into
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: the cart, limbs loose, his fingers staying dark with the
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: blood he had choked on. He was still warm when
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: they started the journey back to Samaria. The cart creaked
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  Speaker 4: as it rolled through the entrance of the palace, the
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  Speaker 4: wheels rattling over uneven stone. The soldiers avoided eye contact
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  Speaker 4: with the courtiers who had come to watch. They did
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  Speaker 4: not carry a king home. They carried a warning. The
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: chariot stood near the washing pool, streaked with the blood
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  Speaker 4: that had poured from his wounds, sticky and congealed in
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  Speaker 4: the heat. A servant, young and new to the palace,
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  Speaker 4: swallowed hard and stepped forward, carrying a bucket of water.
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  Speaker 4: His hands trembled as he lifted it, tilting it over
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  Speaker 4: the chariot's side. letting the water slosh and swirl over
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  Speaker 4: the wood, turning the dust to mud, sending thick red
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  Speaker 4: streams trailing toward the gutters. The blood found the cracks
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  Speaker 4: in the stone and flowed outward, curling in rivulets until
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: it reached the open ground, where the wild dogs waited.
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  Speaker 4: There had always been dogs in Samaria. They lived on
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: the scraps of the city. scavengers picking at whatever had
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  Speaker 4: been left behind. Tonight, they found something fresh. The servant
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  Speaker 4: looked away as the first one lowered its head, its
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: mouth pressing into the blood, lapping it up, the sound
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  Speaker 4: wet and slow. More came, slipping from the alleyways, creeping closer,
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: tongues flicking against the stone. It was just as Elijah
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: had said. From a high window, Jezebel watched. She had
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  Speaker 4: not wept. She had not torn her robes or covered
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: herself in sackcloth. She had not even left her chambers
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  Speaker 4: when the news came. She had known before the first
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: horse rode through the city gates. Ahab had always been
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: easy to predict. That was the greatest of his many flaws.
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  Speaker 4: He was not like her. He wanted too much, needed
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: too much. Now he was dead. Her fingers traced the
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  Speaker 4: carved stone of the balcony railing, her nails clicking softly
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  Speaker 4: as she leaned forward, gazing down at the spectacle. A servant,
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: young and stupid, hesitated behind her, wringing his hands, eyes
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: flicking between the window and the queen's face.
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  Speaker 1: My lady.
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  Speaker 5: Do you grieve?
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Jezebel turned her head slowly. Her lips curled, but it
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: was not a smile.
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  Speaker 3: I suppose I mourn him as one would a lost sandal.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Less sorrowful, more perturbed that now I have to find
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  Speaker 3: a new one.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: The servant flinched.
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: Jezebel turned back to the window, watching as the last
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: of the blood washed away, as the dogs finished their meal.
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: and as the city swallowed its dead king without ceremony.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Ahab was never made for war, or for ruling, or
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: for me.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: The wind tugged at her hair, dark strands slipping across
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: her cheek. She breathed in, tasting the air, heavy with
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: the scent of dust and prophecy, of filth and judgment.
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: My lady, what shall we do?
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: Jezebel exhaled, slow and measured.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: We shall wait.
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: For what?
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: Jezebel let her fingers rest against the railing one last
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: time before stepping away. Below, the dogs licked their muzzles clean.
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  Speaker 4: And somewhere, unseen but undeniable, the words of Elijah still echoed.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: The dogs will feast.
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  Speaker 4: This Pray.com production is only made possible by our dedicated
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Schelleberger
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People,
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton,
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradok,
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: Thomas Copeland Jr., Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Lashinsky. Music by
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Andrew Morgan Smith. Written by Aaron Salvato, Brie Rosely, and
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: Chris Baig. You can hear more Prey.com productions on the
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Prey.com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People, please rate
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: and leave a review.