۞ Thereof We created you, and thereunto We return you, and therefrom We shall bring you forth once again. 55 So We showed Pharaoh all Our signs, but he cried lies, and refused. 56 He said: 'Moses, have you come to drive us from our land with your sorcery? 57 by thy sorcery? We shall assuredly bring thee sorcery the like of it; therefore appoint a tryst between us and thee, a place mutually agreeable, and we shall not fail it, neither thou.' 58 [Moses] said, "Your appointment is on the day of the festival when the people assemble at mid-morning." 59 So Pharaoh withdrew and gathered his guile, then returned, 60 Moses said unto them: Woe unto you! Invent not a lie against Allah, lest He extirpate you by some punishment. He who lieth faileth miserably. 61 Then they debated one with another what they must do, and they kept their counsel secret. 62 Some of them said: "These two are magicians, who want to drive you out of your land with their magic and to destroy your excellent way of life. 63 “Therefore strengthen your scheme, and come forth in rows; indeed whoever dominates this day has succeeded.” 64 They said:"O Musa (Moses)! Either you throw first or we be the first to throw?" 65 He said: nay, cast ye down. And lo! their cords and their staves were made to appear to him by their magic as though they were running. 66 And Moosa sensed fear in his heart. 67 Allah said, "Fear not. Indeed, it is you who are superior. 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 Eventually the magicians were impelled to fall down prostrate and said: "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron." 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 answered: "Never shall we prefer thee to all the evidence of the truth that has come unto us, nor to Him who has brought us into being! Decree, then, whatever thou art going to decree: thou canst decree only [something that pertains to] this worldly life! 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 Indeed, he who comes to his Lord a sinner shall be consigned to Hell; he shall neither die therein nor live. 74 But such as come to Him as Believers who have worked righteous deeds,- for them are ranks exalted,- 75 will be rewarded by high status in the gardens of Eden wherein streams flow. Such will be the reward of those who purify themselves. 76