۞ We created you from the earth and will revert you back to it; and raise you up from it a second time. 55 We showed Pharaoh all Our signs but he rejected them and refused to believe in them. 56 He said: 'Moses, have you come to drive us from our land with your sorcery? 57 "But we can surely produce magic to match thine! So make a tryst between us and thee, which we shall not fail to keep - neither we nor thou - in a place where both shall have even chances." 58 [Moses] said, "Your appointment is on the day of the festival when the people assemble at mid-morning." 59 So Pharaoh withdrew and gathered his guile, then returned, 60 and Moses said to them, 'O beware! Forge not a lie against God, lest He destroy you with a chastisement. Whoso forges has ever failed.' 61 Then they wrangled about their affair among themselves, and kept secret their private counsel. 62 They said: verily these two are magicians, intending to drive you forth from your land by their magic and to do away with your superior way. 63 So resolve upon your plan and then come [forward] in line. And he has succeeded today who overcomes." 64 They said: "O Moses! whether wilt thou that thou throw (first) or that we be the first to throw?" 65 Moses replied: 'No, you throw first' And by their sorcery it seemed to him that their ropes and staffs were sliding. 66 and Moses conceived a fear within him. 67 We told him, "Do not be afraid for you will be the winner. 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 The magicians bowed down in prostration saying, "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron". 70 Pharaoh said: "What! Did you believe in Him even before I permitted you to do so? Surely, he must be your chief who taught you magic. Now I will certainly cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and will crucify you on the trunks of palm-trees, and then you will come to know which of us can inflict sterner and more lasting torment." 71 Their reply was: 'We will not prefer you over the clear signs that have come to us, nor over Him who has created us. So decide upon whatever you decide, you can only decide upon things in this present life. 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 Whoever comes to his Lord (being) guilty, for him is surely hell; he shall not die therein, nor shall he live. 74 And the one who presents himself as a believer before Him, having done good deeds – so for them are the high ranks. 75 living for ever in the Gardens of Eden, underneath which rivers flow. Such shall be the recompense of he who purifies himself. 76