۞ 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 And indeed We showed him all Our signs – so he denied them and did not accept. 56 He said: 'Moses, have you come to drive us from our land with your sorcery? 57 So We shall surely bring unto thee a magic the like thereof; so Make between us and thee an appointment which neither we nor thou shall fail in some open space. 58 [Moses] said, "Your appointment is on the day of the festival when the people assemble at mid-morning." 59 The Pharaoh returned to organize his plans and then attended the appointment. 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 Then they wrangled about their affair among themselves, and kept secret their private counsel. 62 They said: "Verily! These are two magicians. Their object is to drive you out from your land with magic, and overcome your chiefs and nobles. 63 Wherefore devise your stratagem, and then come in a row; and prospered today is he who overcometh. 64 Said [the sorcerers]: "O Moses! Either thou throw [thy staff first,] or we shall be the first to throw." 65 He said: Nay, do ye throw! Then lo! their cords and their staves, by their magic, appeared to him as though they ran. 66 Moses felt afraid within himself. 67 [But] We said: "Fear not! Verily, it is thou who shalt 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 So the magicians fell down in prostration. They said, "We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses." 70 (The Pharaoh) said: "You have come to believe without my dispensation. Surely he is your chief who taught you magic. I will have your hands and feet cut off on alternate sides and crucify you on the trunks of date-palm trees. You will come to know whose punishment is harder and protracted." 71 They said: "Never shall we regard thee as more than the Clear Signs that have come to us, or than Him Who created us! so decree whatever thou desirest to decree: for thou canst only decree (touching) the life of this world. 72 We believe in our Lord that He may forgive us our sins and also forgive us the practice of magic to which you had compelled us. Allah is the Best and He alone will abide." 73 Verily whosoever cometh unto his lord as a culprit, for him is Hell wherein he will neither die nor live. 74 And whosoever cometh unto Him as a believer, and he hath done righteous works - then these! for them are ranks high. 75 The gardens of perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein; and this is the reward of him who has purified himself. 76