۞ Out of the earth We created you, and We shall restore you into it, and bring you forth from it a second time.' 55 And indeed We showed him [Fir'aun (Pharaoh)] all Our Signs and Evidences, but he denied and refused. 56 He said, "Have you come to us to drive us out of our land with your magic, O Moses? 57 We shall confront you with a sorcery like your own. So appoint a day when both of us might meet face to face in an open space; an appointment which neither we nor you shall fail to keep." 58 [Moses] said, "Your appointment is on the day of the festival when the people assemble at mid-morning." 59 Thereupon Pharaoh withdrew [with his counsellors] and decided upon the scheme which he would pursue; and then he came [to the tryst]. 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 discussed their strategy among themselves and conferred privately, 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 Wherefore devise your stratagem, and then come in a row; and prospered today is he who overcometh. 64 They said: "O Moses! whether wilt thou that thou throw (first) or that we be the first to throw?" 65 Moses said, "You throw down first." Suddenly their ropes and staffs appeared to him, by their magic, to be moving about rapidly, 66 So Moses' heart was filled with fear. 67 We said: Fear not! Lo! thou art the higher. 68 Throw down what is in your right hand and it will swallow up all that they have performed; theirs is only a magical performance. Magicians can find no happiness in whatever they do." 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: Ye put faith in him before I give you leave. Lo! he is your chief who taught you magic. Now surely I shall cut off your hands and your feet alternately, and I shall crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and ye shall know for certain which of us hath sterner and more lasting punishment. 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 We believe in our Lord so that He forgives us our sins and the sorcery you have forced us to practice. Allah is Better, and Everlasting' 73 Surely for him who comes before his Lord a sinner shall be Hell, where he will neither die nor live. 74 And whoso comes unto Him a believer having done deeds of righteousness, those -- for them await the most sublime degrees; 75 gardens of perpetual bliss, through which running waters flow, therein to abide: for that shall be the recompense of all who attain to purity. 76