۞ Thereof We created you, and thereunto We return you, and thence We bring you forth a second time. 55 AND, INDEED, We made Pharaoh aware of all Our messages - but he gave them the lie and refused [to heed them]. 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 (Moses) said: Your tryst shall be the day of the feast, and let the people assemble when the sun hath risen high. 59 So Pharaoh withdrew and gathered his guile, then returned, 60 Moses said to them: "Woe betide you. Do not fabricate a lie against God, or He will destroy you with some affliction. For he who fabricates lies is doomed to failure." 61 So they disputed, one with another, over their affair, but they kept their talk secret. 62 They said: verily these two are magicians, intending to drive you forth from your land by their magic and to do away with your superior way. 63 So muster all your stratagem and come forth in a row. Whoever prevails today shall triumph." 64 They said: O Moses! Either throw first, or let us be the first to throw? 65 Moses said, "You throw first." When they did, their ropes and staffs through their magic seemed to be moving. 66 And he sensed within himself apprehension, did Moses. 67 We said: "Fear not! for thou hast indeed the upper hand: 68 Throw down what is in your right hand: It will swallow up what they have conjured. For what they have fashioned is only a trick of the sorcerer; and a sorcerer does not succeed wherever he may come." 69 The magicians bowed down in prostration saying, "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron". 70 (Pharaoh) said: Ye put faith in him before I give you leave. Lo! he is your chief who taught you magic. Now surely I shall cut off your hands and your feet alternately, and I shall crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and ye shall know for certain which of us hath sterner and more lasting punishment. 71 They said: we shall by no means prefer thee to that which hath come to us of the evidences, and Him Who hath created us; so decree thou whatsoever thou shalt decree; thou canst only decree in respect of the life of this world. 72 Surely we believe in our Lord that He may forgive us our sins and the magic to which you compelled us; and Allah is better and more abiding. 73 Lo! whoso cometh guilty unto his Lord, verily for him is hell. There he will neither die nor live. 74 And whoever comes to Him a believer (and) he has done good deeds indeed, these it is who shall have the high ranks, 75 The gardens of perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein; and this is the reward of him who has purified himself. 76