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 So when he brought Our signs to them, they started mocking at 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: O magician! call on your Lord for our sake, as He has made the covenant with you; we shall surely be the followers of the right way. 49 But when We removed from them the chastisement, lo! they broke the pledge. 50 And Pharaoh called out among his people; he said, "O my people, does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers flowing beneath me; then do you not see? 51 Am I not better than this contemptible (man), who can scarcely make things clear (because of the impediment of his speech)? 52 and why have not armlets of gold been bestowed on him and why is there not a train of angels accompanying him?" 53 Thus he incited his people to levity, and they obeyed him: for, behold, they were people depraved! 54 But when they continued to challenge Us, We inflicted Our retribution on them, and 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