Is it not a lesson for the successors of the past generations that had We wanted, We could have punished them for their sins, sealed their hearts and deprived them of hearing? 100 We have told you the stories of those towns: their messengers came to them with clear signs, but they were never going to believe in something they had already rejected. Thus God seals up the hearts of those who deny the truth. 101 And We found most of them not true to their words; and indeed We found most of them disobedient. 102 AND AFTER those [early people] We sent Moses with Our messages unto Pharaoh and his great ones, and they wilfully rejected them: and behold what happened in the end to those spreaders of corruption! 103 And Moses said, "O Pharaoh, I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds 104 "Proper it is for me that I say nothing concerning Allah but the truth. Indeed I have come unto you from your Lord with a clear proof. So let the Children of Israel depart along with me." 105 He said: if thou hast brought a sign, forth with it then, if thou art of the truth-tellers. 106 So he cast his staff; and behold, it was a serpent manifest. 107 and he drew forth his hand, and lo! it appeared [shining] white to the beholders. 108