page54
007.125 They said: "For us, We are but sent back unto our Lord:
007.126 "But thou dost wreak thy vengeance on us simply because we believed in the Signs of our Lord when they
reached us! Our Lord! pour out on us patience and constancy, and take our souls unto thee as Muslims (who bow to
thy will)!
007.127 Said the chiefs of Pharaoh's people: "Wilt thou leave Moses and his people, to spread mischief in the land,
and to abandon thee and thy gods?" He said: "Their male children will we slay; (only) their females will we save alive;
and we have over them (power) irresistible."
007.128 Said Moses to his people: "Pray for help from God, and (wait) in patience and constancy: for the earth is
God's, to give as a heritage to such of His servants as He pleaseth; and the end is (best) for the righteous.
007.129 They said: "We have had (nothing but) trouble, both before and after thou camest to us." He said: "It may be
that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you inheritors in the earth; that so He may try you by your deeds."
007.130 We punished the people of Pharaoh with years (of droughts) and shortness of crops; that they might receive
admonition.
007.131 But when good (times) came, they said, "This is due to us;" When gripped by calamity, they ascribed it to evil
omens connected with Moses and those with him! Behold! in truth the omens of evil are theirs in God's sight, but most
of them do not understand!
007.132 They said (to Moses): "Whatever be the Signs thou bringest, to work therewith thy sorcery on us, we shall
never believe in thee.
007.133 So We sent (plagues) on them: Wholesale death, Locusts, Lice, Frogs, And Blood: Signs openly
self-explained: but they were steeped in arrogance,- a people given to sin.
007.134 Every time the penalty fell on them, they said: "O Moses! on your behalf call on thy Lord in virtue of his
promise to thee: If thou wilt remove the penalty from us, we shall truly believe in thee, and we shall send away the
Children of Israel with thee."
007.135 But every time We removed the penalty from them according to a fixed term which they had to fulfil,-
Behold! they broke their word!
007.136 So We exacted retribution from them: We drowned them in the sea, because they rejected Our Signs and
failed to take warning from them.
007.137 And We made a people, considered weak (and of no account), inheritors of lands in both east and west, - lands
whereon We sent down Our blessings. The fair promise of thy Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel, because
they had patience and constancy, and We levelled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Pharaoh and
his people erected (with such pride).
007.138 We took the Children of Israel (with safety) across the sea. They came upon a people devoted entirely to
some idols they had. They said: "O Moses! fashion for us a god like unto the gods they have." He said: "Surely ye are
a people without knowledge.
007.139 "As to these folk,- the cult they are in is (but) a fragment of a ruin, and vain is the (worship) which they
practise."
007.140 He said: "Shall I seek for you a god other than the (true) God, when it is God Who hath endowed you with gifts
above the nations?"
007.141 And remember We rescued you from Pharaoh's people, who afflicted you with the worst of penalties, who
slew your male children and saved alive your females: in that was a momentous trial from your Lord.
007.142 We appointed for Moses thirty nights, and completed (the period) with ten (more): thus was completed the
term (of communion) with his Lord, forty nights. And Moses had charged his brother Aaron (before he went up): "Act
for me amongst my people: Do right, and follow not the way of those who do mischief."
007.143 When Moses came to the place appointed by Us, and his Lord addressed him, He said: "O my Lord! show
(Thyself) to me, that I may look upon thee." God said: "By no means canst thou see Me (direct); But look upon the
mount; if it abide in its place, then shalt thou see Me." When his Lord manifested His glory on the Mount, He made
it as dust. And Moses fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said: "Glory be to Thee! to Thee I turn
in repentance, and I am the first to believe."
007.144 (God) said: "O Moses! I have chosen thee above (other) men, by the mission I (have given thee) and the words