THUS, INDEED, have We sent Moses with Our messages unto Pharaoh and his great ones; and he said: "Behold, I am an apostle of the Sustainer of all the worlds!" 46 But when he brought them Our tokens, behold! they laughed at them. 47 Every Sign that We showed them was greater than its predecessor; and then We seized them with Our chastisement so that they may return (to the Right Way). 48 And they said [to Moses], "O magician, invoke for us your Lord by what He has promised you. Indeed, we will be guided." 49 But whenever We removed the suffering from them, lo! they would break their word. 50 And Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying: "O my people! Does not the dominion of Egypt belong to me, (witness) these streams flowing underneath my (palace)? What! see ye not then? 51 Am I (not) better than him who is contemptible, and cannot even express himself clearly? 52 Why have no armlets of gold been given him, or angels sent down successively with him' 53 Thus he persuaded his people to make light (of Moses), and they obeyed him. Lo! they were a wanton folk. 54 So when they angered Us, We punished them, and drowned them all. 55 And We made them a precedent and an example for the later peoples. 56