۞ From this very earth We created you and to the same earth We shall cause you to return, and from it We shall bring you forth to life again. 55 And We verily did show him all Our tokens, but he denied them and refused. 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, "The day of the encounter will be the day of the festival, and let the people assemble when the sun has risen high." 59 Pharaoh went back and concerted all his stratagem and returned for the encounter. 60 Musa said to them: Woe to you! do not forge a lie against Allah, lest He destroy you by a punishment, and he who forges (a lie) indeed fails to attain (his desire). 61 Then they debated one with another what they must do, and they kept their counsel secret. 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 Hence, [O sorcerers of Egypt,] decide upon the scheme which you will pursue, and then come forward in one single body: for, indeed, he who prevails today shall prosper indeed!" 64 They said: "Either you cast (your spell), O Moses, or we shall cast it first." 65 Moses said, "You throw down first." Suddenly their ropes and staffs appeared to him, by their magic, to be moving about rapidly, 66 and Moses conceived a fear within him. 67 We told him, "Do not be afraid for you will be the winner. 68 Throw down that [staff] which is in your right hand -- it shall swallow up what they have wrought, for what they have wrought is only a magician's trick. A magician shall never thrive, come whence he may. 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 (Firon) said: You believe in him before I give you leave; most surely he is the chief of you who taught you enchantment, therefore I will certainly cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will certainly crucify you on the trunks of the palm trees, and certainly you will come to know which of us is the more severe and the more abiding in chastising. 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 We believe in our Lord, that He may pardon us our offences, and the sorcery thou hast constrained us to practise; God is better, and more abiding.' 73 Whoever comes to his Lord (being) guilty, for him is surely hell; he shall not die therein, nor shall he live. 74 But whoso cometh unto Him a believer, having done good works, for such are the high stations; 75 The gardens of perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein; and this is the reward of him who has purified himself. 76