۞ Thereof We created you, and thereunto We return you, and therefrom We shall bring you forth once again. 55 And We showed Pharaoh all Our Signs, but he did reject and refuse. 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 So Pharaoh withdrew, devised his stratagem and returned. 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 debated with one another what they must do, and they kept their talk secret. 62 saying [to one another]: "These two are surely sorcerers intent on driving you from your land by their sorcery, and on doing away with your time-honoured way of life. 63 So gather your guile; then come in battle-line. Whoever today gains the upper hand shall surely prosper. 64 They said:"O Musa (Moses)! Either you throw first or we be the first to throw?" 65 Moses said, "You throw first." When they did, their ropes and staffs through their magic seemed to be moving. 66 So Moses conceived in his mind a (sort of) fear. 67 We said to him: "Have no fear; for it is you who will prevail. 68 And [now] throw that [staff] which is in thy right hand - it shall swallow up all that they have wrought: [for] they have wrought only a sorcerer's artifice, and the sorcerer can never come to any good, whatever he may aim at!" 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 The Pharaoh said, "Since you believed in him without my permission, then Moses certainly must be your chief who has taught you magic. I shall cut your hands and feet on alternate sides and crucify you on the trunk of the palm-tree. You shall certainly find which among us can afflict a more severe and lasting punishment". 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 "Verily! We have believed in our Lord, that He may forgive us our faults, and the magic to which you did compel us. And Allah is better as regards reward in comparison to your [Fir'aun's (Pharaoh)] reward, and more lasting (as regards punishment in comparison to your punishment)." 73 Indeed, he who comes to his Lord a sinner shall be consigned to Hell; he shall neither die therein nor live. 74 But such as come to Him as Believers who have worked righteous deeds,- for them are ranks exalted,- 75 Gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally. And that is the reward of one who purifies himself. 76