۞ 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 We showed the Pharaoh all of Our miracles, but he called them lies and turned away from them. 56 He said: Hast come to drive us out from our land by thy magic, O Moses? 57 We shall also answer you by magic. Let us make an appointment for a contest among us and let each of us be present at a certain time in the appointed place". 58 Musa said: your appointment is the gala day, and that the people be gathered in the forenoon. 59 So Pharaoh withdrew and gathered his guile, then returned, 60 and Moses said to them, 'O beware! Forge not a lie against God, lest He destroy you with a chastisement. Whoso forges has ever failed.' 61 So they discussed their strategy among themselves and conferred privately, 62 They said, "Certainly they are both magicians who want to drive you out of your land by their magic, and destroy your best traditions. 63 So arrange your plan, and come in battle line. Whoso is uppermost this day will be indeed successful. 64 They said: O Moses! Either throw first, or let us be the first to throw? 65 He said: Nay, do ye throw! Then lo! their cords and their staves, by their magic, appeared to him as though they ran. 66 And Moses conceived a fear in his mind. 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 So the magicians were thrown down to prostration: they said, "We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses". 70 (The Pharaoh) said: "You have come to believe without my dispensation. Surely he is your chief who taught you magic. I will have your hands and feet cut off on alternate sides and crucify you on the trunks of date-palm trees. You will come to know whose punishment is harder and protracted." 71 They said: We choose thee not above the clear proofs that have come unto us, and above Him Who created us. So decree what thou wilt decree. Thou wilt end for us only this life of the world. 72 We believe in our Lord that He may forgive us our sins and also forgive us the practice of magic to which you had compelled us. Allah is the Best and He alone will abide." 73 Whosoever comes unto his Lord a sinner, for him awaits Gehenna wherein he shall neither die nor live. 74 But for whosoever comes before Him as a believer and having done good works there awaits the most highest degree; 75 he will abide forever in the Gardens of eternity, through which rivers flow. That is the recompense for those who purify themselves. 76