THUS, INDEED, have We sent Moses with Our messages unto Pharaoh and his great ones; and he said: "Behold, I am an apostle of the Sustainer of all the worlds!" 46 but when he came to them with Our signs, they ridiculed them, 47 We showed them Sign after Sign, each greater than its fellow, and We seized them with Punishment, in order that they might turn (to Us). 48 And they said: magician! supplicate thy Lord for us for that which He hath covenanted with thee; verily we shall let ourselves be guided. 49 But whenever We removed the suffering from them, lo! they would break their word. 50 And Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying: "O my people! Does not the dominion of Egypt belong to me, (witness) these streams flowing underneath my (palace)? What! see ye not then? 51 Am I not better than this lowly man who can barely express himself? 52 Why, then, have armlets of gold not been set upon him, or angels sent along with him? 53 Thus he persuaded his people to make light (of Moses), and they obeyed him. Lo! they were a wanton folk. 54 When at length they provoked Us, We exacted retribution from them, and We drowned them all. 55 and so We made them a thing of the past, and an example to those who would come after them. 56