۞ From the earth We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will extract you another time. 55 And indeed We showed him [Fir'aun (Pharaoh)] all Our Signs and Evidences, but he denied and refused. 56 He said: "Hast thou come to drive us out of our land by thy sorcery, O Moses? 57 by thy sorcery? We shall assuredly bring thee sorcery the like of it; therefore appoint a tryst between us and thee, a place mutually agreeable, and we shall not fail it, neither thou.' 58 Moses said, "Let the contest take place on the Day of Feast so that all the people can come together during the brightness of the day." 59 Pharaoh went back and concerted all his stratagem and returned for the encounter. 60 and Moses said to them: 'Alas! Do not forge a lie against Allah lest He destroys you with a punishment. Indeed, whosoever forges has failed' 61 Then they wrangled about their affair among themselves, and kept secret their private counsel. 62 They said: These are most surely two magicians who wish to turn you out from your land by their magic and to take away your best traditions. 63 "Therefore concert your plan, and then assemble in (serried) ranks: He wins (all along) today who gains the upper hand." 64 They said:"O Musa (Moses)! Either you throw first or we be the first to throw?" 65 'No,' said Moses. 'Do you cast!' And lo, it seemed to him, by their sorcery, their ropes and their staffs were sliding; 66 So Musa conceived in his mind a fear. 67 [But] We said: "Fear not! Verily, it is thou who shalt prevail! 68 And throw down what is in your right hand; it will swallow up all that they have wrought. They have wrought only a magician's stratagem. A magician cannot come to any good, come whence he may." 69 So the magicians fell down in prostration. They said, "We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses." 70 Said [Pharaoh]: "Have you come to believe in him ere I have given you permission? Verily, he must be your master who has taught you magic! But I shall most certainly cut off your hands and feet in great numbers, because of [your] perverseness, and I shall most certainly crucify you in great numbers on trunks of palm-trees: and [I shall do this] so that you might come to know for certain as to which of us [two] can inflict a more severe chastisement, and [which] is the more abiding!" 71 They said: we shall by no means prefer thee to that which hath come to us of the evidences, and Him Who hath created us; so decree thou whatsoever thou shalt decree; thou canst only decree in respect of the life of this world. 72 Lo! we believe in our Lord, that He may forgive us our sins and the magic unto which thou didst force us. Allah is better and more lasting. 73 Verily he who comes to his Lord as a sinner (at Judgment),- for him is Hell: therein shall he neither die nor live. 74 One who comes into the presence of his Lord with faith and righteous deeds 75 Gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally. And that is the reward of one who purifies himself. 76