We did send Moses aforetime, with Our Signs, to Pharaoh and his Chiefs: He said, "I am a messenger of the Lord of the Worlds." 46 So when he brought Our signs to them, they started mocking at them! 47 And not a sign We shewed them but it was greater than the like thereof; and We laid hold of them with the torment that haply they might turn. 48 And [every time] they exclaimed: "O thou sorcerer! Pray for us to thy Sustainer on the strength of the covenant [of prophethood] which He has made with thee: for, verily, we shall now follow the right way!" 49 But lo, each time We removed Our affliction from them, they would go back on their word. 50 And Fir'aun (Pharaoh) proclaimed among his people, saying: "O my people! Is not mine the dominion of Egypt, and these rivers flowing underneath me. See you not then? 51 Am I not better than this contemptible man who can hardly make his meaning clear? 52 Why have no armlets of gold been given him, or angels sent down successively with him' 53 So he bluffed his people, and they obeyed him. Indeed, they were [themselves] a people defiantly disobedient [of Allah]. 54 But when they continued to challenge Us, We inflicted Our retribution on them, and drowned them all: 55 We made them a precedent, an example for later peoples. 56