۞ Thereof We created you, and thereunto We return you, and therefrom We shall bring you forth once again. 55 AND, INDEED, We made Pharaoh aware of all Our messages - but he gave them the lie and refused [to heed them]. 56 He said: art thou come unto us that thou mayest drive us out of our land by thy magic, O Musa! 57 But we surely can produce for thee magic the like thereof; so appoint a tryst between us and you, which neither we nor thou shall fail to keep, at a place convenient (to us both). 58 'Your tryst shall be upon the Feast Day.' said Moses. 'Let the people be mustered at the high noon.' 59 Then Firawn turned away, devised his stratagem; thereafter he came. 60 Moses said unto them: Woe unto you! Invent not a lie against Allah, lest He extirpate you by some punishment. He who lieth faileth miserably. 61 They started arguing and whispering to each other 62 They said: "These two are certainly (expert) magicians: their object is to drive you out from your land with their magic, and to do away with your most cherished institutions. 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! will you cast, or shall we be the first who cast down? 65 Moses said, "You throw first." When they did, their ropes and staffs through their magic seemed to be moving. 66 And Moses felt afraid within himself. 67 [But] We said: "Fear not! Verily, it is thou who shalt prevail! 68 "And throw that which is in your right hand! It will swallow up that which they have made. That which they have made is only a magician's trick, and the magician will never be successful, no matter whatever amount (of skill) he may attain." 69 And the sorcerers cast themselves down prostrating. 'We believe,' they said, 'in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.' 70 Pharaoh said, 'Have you believed him before I gave you leave? Why, he is the chief of you, the same that taught you sorcery; I shall assuredly cut off alternately your hands and feet, then I shall crucify you upon the trunks of palm-trees; you shall know of a certainty which of us is more terrible in chastisement, and more abiding.' 71 The magicians answered: "By Him Who has created us, we shall never prefer you to the Truth after manifest Signs have come to us. So decree whatever you will. Your decree will pertain, at the most, to the present life of the world. 72 Surely we believe in our Lord that He may forgive us our sins and the magic to which you compelled us; and Allah is better and more abiding. 73 Lo! whoso cometh guilty unto his Lord, verily for him is hell. There he will neither die nor live. 74 But for whosoever comes before Him as a believer and having done good works there awaits the most highest degree; 75 Everlasting Gardens of Eden beneath which rivers flow, abiding in them for ever; and this is the reward of one who became pure. 76