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 We showed them Sign after Sign, each greater than its fellow, and We seized them with Punishment, in order that they might turn (to Us). 48 And [every time] they exclaimed: "O thou sorcerer! Pray for us to thy Sustainer on the strength of the covenant [of prophethood] which He has made with thee: for, verily, we shall now follow the right way!" 49 but when We relieved them of the torment, they broke their word. 50 Pharaoh called to his people, "My people, is the Kingdom of Egypt not mine? And these rivers that flow at my feet, are they not mine? Do you not see? 51 "Am I not better than this (Moses), who is a contemptible wretch and can scarcely express himself clearly? 52 and why have not armlets of gold been bestowed on him and why is there not a train of angels accompanying him?" 53 So he bluffed his people, and they obeyed him. Indeed, they were [themselves] a people defiantly disobedient [of Allah]. 54 So when they incurred Our wrath, We exacted retribution from them, and drowned them all, 55 And We made them a precedent and an ensample unto those after. 56