۞ We created you from it (the earth), and to it We shall restore you; and from it We will bring you forth yet a second time. 55 AND, INDEED, We made Pharaoh aware of all Our messages - but he gave them the lie and refused [to heed them]. 56 'Hast thou come, Moses,' he said, 'to expel us out of our land 57 We shall also answer you by magic. Let us make an appointment for a contest among us and let each of us be present at a certain time in the appointed place". 58 Said (Moses): "Let your meeting be on the day of the Feast, and let people assemble in broad daylight." 59 Pharaoh then withdrew, and gathered his guile. Thereafter he came again, 60 Moses said to him: Woe to you! Forge not ye a lie against Allah, lest He destroy you (at once) utterly by chastisement: the forger must suffer frustration!" 61 So they disputed with one another about their affair and kept the discourse secret. 62 They said, "Certainly they are both magicians who want to drive you out of your land by their magic, and destroy your best traditions. 63 "So devise your plot, and then assemble in line. And whoever overcomes this day will be indeed successful." 64 They said: O Musa! will you cast, or shall we be the first who cast down? 65 He said, "Nay, throw ye first!" Then behold their ropes and their rods-so it seemed to him on account of their magic - began to be in lively motion! 66 and in his heart Moses became apprehensive, 67 We said, “Do not fear – it is you who is dominant.” 68 And cast thou down that which is in thy right hand: it shall swallow up that which they have wrought; They have wrought only a magician's stratagem; and the magician prospereth not wheresoever he cometh. 69 [And so it happened and down fell the sorcerers, prostrating themselves in adoration, [and] exclaimed: "We have come to believe in the Sustainer of Moses and Aaron!" 70 [Pharaoh] said, "You believed him before I gave you permission. Indeed, he is your leader who has taught you magic. So I will surely cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and you will surely know which of us is more severe in [giving] punishment and more enduring." 71 They answered: "Never shall we prefer thee to all the evidence of the truth that has come unto us, nor to Him who has brought us into being! Decree, then, whatever thou art going to decree: thou canst decree only [something that pertains to] this worldly life! 72 Verily we! we have believed in our Lord, that he may forgive us our faults, and that to which thou hast constrained us in the way of magic; and Allah is Best and Most Lasting. 73 Surely for him who comes before his Lord a sinner shall be Hell, where he will neither die nor live. 74 One who comes into the presence of his Lord with faith and righteous deeds 75 The gardens of perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein; and this is the reward of him who has purified himself. 76