۞ Thereof We created you, and thereunto We return you, and thence We bring you forth a second time. 55 And We certainly showed Pharaoh Our signs - all of them - but he denied and refused. 56 He said: 'Moses, have you come to drive us from our land with your sorcery? 57 In that case, we shall most certainly produce before thee the like thereof! Appoint, then, a tryst between us and thee - which we shall not fail to keep, nor [mayest] thou - at a suitable place!" 58 He (Moses) replied: 'Your meeting shall be on the day of the feast, and let the people be assembled by midmorning' 59 So Pharaoh withdrew: He concerted his plan, and then came (back). 60 Moses said to him: Woe to you! Forge not ye a lie against Allah, lest He destroy you (at once) utterly by chastisement: the forger must suffer frustration!" 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 So arrange your plan, and come in battle line. Whoso is uppermost this day will be indeed successful. 64 The magicians said: "Moses, will you throw down or shall we be the first to throw?" 65 He said, "Nay, throw ye first!" Then behold their ropes and their rods-so it seemed to him on account of their magic - began to be in lively motion! 66 And Moosa sensed fear in his heart. 67 We said: "Fear not! for thou hast indeed the upper hand: 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 Eventually the magicians were impelled to fall down prostrate and said: "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron." 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 They said: "We prefer you not over the clear signs that have come to us, and to Him (Allah) Who created us. So decree whatever you desire to decree, for you can only decree (regarding) this life of the world. 72 "For us, we have believed in our Lord: may He forgive us our faults, and the magic to which thou didst compel us: for Allah is Best and Most Abiding." 73 Whoever comes to his Lord (being) guilty, for him is surely hell; he shall not die therein, nor shall he live. 74 whereas he who shall appear before Him as a believer who has done righteous deeds - it is such that shall have lofty stations [in the life to come]: 75 gardens of perpetual bliss, through which running waters flow, therein to abide: for that shall be the recompense of all who attain to purity. 76