THUS, INDEED, have We sent Moses with Our messages unto Pharaoh and his great ones; and he said: "Behold, I am an apostle of the Sustainer of all the worlds!" 46 But when he brought them Our signs, lo, they laughed at them. 47 We showed them Sign after Sign, each greater than its fellow, and We seized them with Punishment, in order that they might turn (to Us). 48 And they said: magician! supplicate thy Lord for us for that which He hath covenanted with thee; verily we shall let ourselves be guided. 49 But when We removed from them the chastisement, lo! they broke the pledge. 50 Then Pharaoh made a proclamation to his people: 'My people, is the kingdom of Egypt not mine and these rivers which flow beneath me? What, can you not see? 51 "Am I not better than this one [Musa (Moses)], who is Mahin [has no honour nor any respect, and is weak and despicable] and can scarcely express himself clearly? 52 and why have not armlets of gold been bestowed on him and why is there not a train of angels accompanying him?" 53 So he bluffed his people, and they obeyed him. Indeed, they were [themselves] a people defiantly disobedient [of Allah]. 54 When at length they provoked Us, We exacted retribution from them, and We drowned them all. 55 So We made them a bygone fable and a lesson for the latter generations. 56