۞ From the earth We have created you and We will return you to it, and from it We shall bring you forth a second time. 55 So We showed him (Pharaoh) Our signs, all of them, but he belied and refused them. 56 Said he: Have you come to us that you should turn us out of our land by your magic, O Musa? 57 But we surely can produce for thee magic the like thereof; so appoint a tryst between us and you, which neither we nor thou shall fail to keep, at a place convenient (to us both). 58 'Your tryst shall be upon the Feast Day.' said Moses. 'Let the people be mustered at the high noon.' 59 Thereupon Pharaoh withdrew [with his counsellors] and decided upon the scheme which he would pursue; and then he came [to the tryst]. 60 (At the time of the encounter) Moses said to them: "Woe to you! Do not invent falsehoods against Allah lest He destroy you with a scourge. Surely those who invent lies shall come to grief." 61 So they discussed their strategy among themselves and conferred privately, 62 Some of them said: "These two are magicians, who want to drive you out of your land with their magic and to destroy your excellent way of life. 63 Therefore, decide upon your plan and then come forward in ranks. Whoever gains the upper hand today shall surely triumph." 64 They said: "O Moses! whether wilt thou that thou throw (first) or that we be the first to throw?" 65 He said, "Rather, you throw." And suddenly their ropes and staffs seemed to him from their magic that they were moving [like snakes]. 66 So Musa conceived in his mind a fear. 67 We said to him: "Have no fear; for it is you who will prevail. 68 Cast down what is in thy right hand, and it shall swallow what they have fashioned; for they have fashioned only the guile of a sorcerer, and the sorcerer prospers not; wherever he goes.' 69 The magicians, (seeing the miracle), fell down in prostration, saying: "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron." 70 (Pharaoh) said: Ye put faith in him before I give you leave. Lo! he is your chief who taught you magic. Now surely I shall cut off your hands and your feet alternately, and I shall crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and ye shall know for certain which of us hath sterner and more lasting punishment. 71 They said, "Never shall we prefer you to all the evidence of the truth that has come to us. Nor to Him who has brought us into being. So decide whatever you will. Your jurisdiction only covers the life of this world -- 72 We believe in our Lord, that He may pardon us our offences, and the sorcery thou hast constrained us to practise; God is better, and more abiding.' 73 Verily! Whoever comes to his Lord as a Mujrim (criminal, polytheist, disbeliever in the Oneness of Allah and His Messengers, sinner, etc.), then surely, for him is Hell, therein he will neither die nor live. 74 But such as come to Him as Believers who have worked righteous deeds,- for them are ranks exalted,- 75 Gardens of Eden underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide for ever. That is the reward of him who groweth. 76