۞ We have created you from the earth to which We will return you and will bring you back to life again. 55 So We showed him (Pharaoh) Our signs, all of them, but he belied and refused them. 56 He said: "Hast thou come to drive us out of our land with 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 Moses said: "Your tryst is the Day of the Festival, and let the people be assembled when the sun is well up." 59 Then Firawn turned away, devised his stratagem; thereafter he came. 60 Said Moses to them: "Woe unto you! Do not invent lies against God, lest He afflict you with most grievous suffering: for He who contrives [such] a lie is already undone!" 61 Then they wrangled about their affair among themselves, and kept secret their private counsel. 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 devise your plot, and then assemble in line. And whoever overcomes this day will be indeed successful." 64 Said [the sorcerers]: "O Moses! Either thou throw [thy staff first,] or we shall 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 So Moses' heart was filled with fear. 67 [But] We said: "Fear not! Verily, it is thou who shalt prevail! 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 So the magicians fell down prostrate. They said: "We believe in the Lord of Harun (Aaron) and Musa (Moses)." 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 Their reply was: 'We will not prefer you over the clear signs that have come to us, nor over Him who has created us. So decide upon whatever you decide, you can only decide upon things in this present life. 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 Whoever comes to his Lord (being) guilty, for him is surely hell; he shall not die therein, nor shall he 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 and shall live for ever in everlasting Gardens beneath which rivers flow. Such will be the reward of those who purify themselves. 76