۞ We created you from the earth and will revert you back to it; and raise you up from it a second time. 55 And truly We showed him Our signs, all of them, but he rejected and refused. 56 He said: "Hast thou come to drive us out of our land by thy sorcery, O Moses? 57 "But we can surely produce magic to match thine! So make a tryst between us and thee, which we shall not fail to keep - neither we nor thou - in a place where both shall have even chances." 58 Moses said: "Your tryst is the Day of the Festival, and let the people be assembled when the sun is well up." 59 After this the Pharaoh withdrew and settled his stratagem, then came back. 60 Moses told them, (the magicians) "Woe to you if you invent falsehood against God; you will be destroyed by the torment. Whoever invents falsehood against God will certainly be lost." 61 Then they [the magicians] conferred among themselves, whispering to one another. 62 saying: 'These two are sorcerers whose aim is to drive you from your land by their sorcery and destroy your noble ways. 63 So resolve upon your plan and then come [forward] in line. And he has succeeded today who overcomes." 64 They said, 'Moses, either thou wilt cast, or we shall be the first to cast.' 65 Moses said, "You throw down first." Suddenly their ropes and staffs appeared to him, by their magic, to be moving about rapidly, 66 So Musa conceived in his mind a fear. 67 We said to him: "Have no fear; for it is you who will prevail. 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 Pharaoh said: "What! Did you believe in Him even before I permitted you to do so? Surely, he must be your chief who taught you magic. Now I will certainly cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and will crucify you on the trunks of palm-trees, and then you will come to know which of us can inflict sterner and more lasting torment." 71 The magicians answered: "By Him Who has created us, we shall never prefer you to the Truth after manifest Signs have come to us. So decree whatever you will. Your decree will pertain, at the most, to the present life of the world. 72 We believe in our Lord, that He may pardon us our offences, and the sorcery thou hast constrained us to practise; God is better, and more abiding.' 73 Surely for him who comes before his Lord a sinner shall be Hell, where he will neither die nor live. 74 But whoever comes to Him as a believer having done righteous deeds - for those will be the highest degrees [in position]: 75 Gardens of Eternity, beneath which flow rivers: they will dwell therein for aye: such is the reward of those who purify themselves (from evil). 76