۞ From it We created you and into it We shall send you back and from it will We raise you a second time. 55 We showed the Pharaoh all of Our miracles, but he called them lies and turned away from them. 56 He said, "Have you come to us to turn us out of our land by means of your magic, 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 appointment is on the day of the festival when the people assemble at mid-morning." 59 So Fir'aun (Pharaoh) withdrew, devised his plot and then came back. 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 differed with one another in their task, and secretly conferred. 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 prepare your strategy and come forward. He alone shall win today who is superior." 64 They said: either thou cast down, or we shall be the first to cast down. 65 Moses replied: "No, let it be you to throw first." Then suddenly it appeared to Moses, owing to their magic, as if their ropes and staffs were running. 66 So Musa (Moses) conceived a fear in himself. 67 We told him, "Do not be afraid for you will be the winner. 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 And the magicians were cast down making obeisance; they said: We believe in the Lord of Haroun and Musa. 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 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 Lo! we believe in our Lord, that He may forgive us our sins and the magic unto which thou didst force us. Allah is better and more lasting. 73 Gehenna (Hell) awaits whosoever comes before his Lord as a sinner, there he shall neither die nor live. 74 And the one who presents himself as a believer before Him, having done good deeds – so for them are the high ranks. 75 Everlasting Gardens of Eden beneath which rivers flow, abiding in them for ever; and this is the reward of one who became pure. 76