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 brought them Our tokens, behold! they laughed at them. 47 And every token that We showed them was greater than its sister (token), and We grasped them with the torment, that haply they might turn again. 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 So when We averted the calamity from them, they immediately broke the promise! 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 him who is contemptible, and cannot even express himself clearly? 52 Why were then no bracelets of gold shed upon him from above, or angels sent down as a retinue with him?" 53 Thus he persuaded his people to make light (of Moses), and they obeyed him. Lo! they were a wanton folk. 54 And when they angered Us, We took retribution from them and drowned them all. 55 And We made them a precedent and an ensample unto those after. 56