constantly,
35“for You always Watch over us.”
36God said, “You are granted
your request, Moses.
37“Indeed, We bestowed on you
a favor once before,
38“when We inspired
your mother, saying,
39“ ‘Place the child in the chest,
then cast it into the river;
the river will cast it onto the bank.
He will be adopted by someone
who is an enemy to Me and you.’
But I cast over you My love,
so you would be reared
under My eye.
40“When your sister went out,
she said, ‘Shall I show you
someone who will nurse him?’
Then we returned you
to your mother, to let her eyes
rejoice and not grieve.
And you killed a man, but
We delivered you from any distress,
and We tried you with other tests.
Then you stayed some years
with the people of Midian, and
came at the ordained hour, Moses.°
41“For I have chosen you
to serve Me.
42“Go, you and your brother,
with My signs, and do not relent
in your remembrance of Me.
43“Go, both of you, to Pharaoh,
for he has done wrong.
44“But speak mildly with him,
so he might take heed
or be filled with fear [of God].
45Moses and Aaron said,
“Our Lord, we’re afraid that
he’ll be harsh with us or
transgress [still more].”
46God said, “Don’t be afraid.
I am with you both—
I see and hear [all things].
47“So go to him, both of you,
and say, ‘We are messengers
from your Lord, so send with us
the children of Israel and do not
harass them. We come
with a sign from your Lord.
Peace be upon all who
follow right guidance.
48“ ‘It has been revealed to us
that punishment shall fall upon
those who deny and turn away.’ ”
49[Having heard this],
Pharaoh said, “So, Moses,
who is the Lord of you both?”
50He replied, “Our Lord is He
Who gave each thing its form
and guided it.”
51Pharaoh said, “What, then,
[is the status] of former generations?”
52Moses answered, “The knowledge
of that is with my Lord, recorded
in a Book. My Lord does not err,
nor does He forget.”
53It is He who made for you
the earth, spread out like a couch,
and laid out for you paths to travel,
and sent rain from the sky, with which
We have brought forth plants,
in pairs, of distinct kinds,
54so eat, and graze your cattle.
In this are signs for those
with understanding.
SECTION 3
55We created you from the earth,
and to it We shall return you,
and from it We shall bring you again
in another time.
56We showed all Our signs
to Pharaoh, but he denied
and refused them.
57He said, “Have you come
to drive us out of our land
with your magic, Moses?
58“We can certainly bring magic
like this to you: arrange a meeting
between us and you, which
neither we nor you shall fail
to honor, in a neutral place.”
59Moses said, “You shall have
your meeting—on the day
of the festival. And let the people
be assembled when the sun is high.”
60So Pharaoh withdrew.
He put together his plan,
and came back.
61Moses said to him,
“Beware—do not forge
a lie about God, or
He might destroy you with
a severe punishment.
For whoever forges lies
will surely fail.”
62So Pharaoh’s ministers
discussed the matter
among themselves, but
kept their discussion secret.
63They said, “These two
are sorcerers, who intend
to drive you from your land
with their sorcery, and to abolish
your exemplary way of life.
64“So devise your plan
then draw up in a line.
Whoever wins today
is sure to flourish.”
65They said, “Moses,
shall you throw, or shall we
be the first to throw?”
66“No, you throw,” said Moses,
and suddenly—through their magic,
their ropes and their staffs
seemed to him to be moving.
67And Moses felt fear
within himself.
68We told him, “Have no fear,
it is you who will prevail.
69“Throw what’s in your right hand:
it will swallow up what they have
contrived—merely a magician’s trick,
and no magician can flourish,
no matter where he goes.”
70Then the magicians threw
themselves down, prostrating,°
saying, “We believe in the Lord
of Aaron and Moses.”
71Pharaoh bellowed,
“You believed in Him
before I gave you permission!
He must be your leader,
teaching you magic.
I will have your hands and feet
cut off, on opposite sides,
and have you crucified
on the trunks of palm trees,
so that you will know for sure
which of us gives more severe
and lasting punishment.”
72They said, “We shall never
choose you over the clear proofs
that have come to us or the One
Who created us. So decree
as you will—you decree only
for the life of this world.
73“We believe in our Lord,
Who may forgive us our faults
and the magic you made us perform;
for God is more worthy and lasting.”
74Those who come to their Lord
as sinners shall attain hell
where they shall find
neither death nor life.
75But those who come
to Him as believers,
with righteous deeds,
shall attain exalted stations—
76eternal gardens, beneath which
rivers flow, where they shall
live forever—the reward
of those who attain purity.
SECTION 4
77We inspired Moses, saying,
“Travel by night with my servants
and break open a dry path for them
through the sea; have no fear
of being overtaken, nor be afraid.”
78Then Pharaoh pursued them
with his forces, but the sea
overwhelmed and covered them.
79So Pharaoh led his people astray
instead of guiding them.
80Children of Israel,
We delivered you from your enemy,
and We made a covenant with you
on the right slope of Mount Sinai,
and We sent down to you
manna and quail,
81saying, “Eat of the good things
We have provided for you,
but do not transgress in this, or
My Wrath may descend upon you.
Anyone on whom My Wrath descends
is undoubtedly fallen.
82“Yet I am Forgiving—
of those who turn in repentance
and believe and do righteous deeds,
then stay rightly guided.”
83[When Moses was on the mountain,
God said,] “What made you
hasten from your people, Moses?”
84He replied, “They were close
upon my heels—and I hastened
to You, My Lord, to please You.”
85God said, “We tested your people
after you were gone,
but the Samiri has led them astray.”°
86So Moses returned to his people
indignant and aggrieved. He said,
“My people, did your Lord not
make you a splendid promise?
Did the promise seem long
in coming, or did you want
your Lord’s wrath to descend
upon you, since you broke
your promise to me?”
87They said, “We didn’t break
our promise to you of our own accord,
but we were made to carry
the people’s ornaments,°
so we threw them [into the fire],
just as the Samiri did.”
88Then he brought out for them
the image of a calf, which seemed
to make a lowing sound,
so they said, “This is your god,
and the god of Moses,
though he has forgotten.”
89Didn’t they see that it
could not answer them a word,
and had no power either
to harm or profit them?
SECTION 5
90In fact, Aaron had said
to them earlier, “My people,
you are being tested by this, for
your true Lord is the All Merciful,
so follow me, obey my command.”
91And they had retorted,
“We’ll never cease our devotion to it
unless Moses returns to us.”
92Moses asked,
“Aaron, when you saw
they were going astray
what stopped you
93“from following me? Did you
disobey my command?”
94Aaron replied,
“Son of my mother, don’t seize me
by my beard or by my hair.
For I feared that you might say,
‘You have sparked division
among the children of Israel,
and have not respected my word.’ ”
95Moses said, “What, then,
do you have to say, Samiri?”
96He replied, “I saw something in it
that they did not. So I took
a handful of dust from
the messenger’s footprint,
and I threw it [onto the calf].
This is what my soul prompted me to do.”
97Moses said, “Be gone from here.
In all this life you’ll be doomed
to say ‘Do not touch me,’ but
for you there is a promise that
will not fail—look upon your god
to which you’re still devoted.
We will burn it and scatter
its ashes into the sea.”
98Your only god is the One God—
there is no god but Him,
Who embraces all things
in His knowing.
99In this way, We relate to you, Prophet,
the narratives of what came before—
We send a reminder from Our grace.°
100Whoever turns away from it
shall bear a heavy burden
on the day of resurrection,
101remaining under it. How wretched
shall be their burden
on the day of resurrection—
102A day when the trumpet
shall be sounded; a day when
We shall gather the sinners,
blinded, eyes blue with fear,°
103murmuring among themselves,
“You stayed but ten days on earth.”
104We know best what they say,
for those of them who are exemplary
in conduct will say, “You didn’t stay
more than a single day.”°
SECTION 6
105They ask you about the mountains.
Say, “My Lord
shall blast them into fragments.
106“He will leave them leveled as a plain.
107“You shall see there neither peak nor vale.”°
108On that day, they will follow
the caller without deviating.
All voices shall be hushed
before the All Merciful—
you shall hear nothing
but the faintest murmur.
109On that day, no intercession
can help, except from those
allowed by the All Merciful,
whose words please Him.
110He knows what lies behind them
and what lies ahead of them, but
their knowing cannot compass Him.°
111All faces shall be humbled before Him,
the Ever Living, Self-Subsisting;°
those who bear the weight of wrongdoing
shall be in despair.
112But those who have done
righteous deeds and are true believers
shall fear no wrong, nor
be deprived of their due.
113We have revealed a Quran
in Arabic, where We gave varied warnings
to make them mindful of God, or
move them to remembrance of Him.
114Exalted is God, the true King.
And Prophet, don’t be overhasty
reciting the Quran before [each]
revelation to you is completed.
Rather, say, “My Lord,
increase my knowledge.”
115We made a covenant with Adam
in an earlier time, but he forgot;
and We found in him no firm resolve.
SECTION 7
116When We said to the angels,
“Bow down before Adam,” they
bowed. But not Iblis—he refused.
117Then We said, “Adam,
this is an enemy to you
and your wife—so don’t let him
drive you from the garden
and bring you to misery.
118“There is enough in it for you
to be neither hungry, nor naked,
119“nor suffer from thirst,
nor the sun’s heat.”
120But Satan whispered to him,
“Adam, shall I lead you to
the tree of eternal life,
and a kingdom beyond aging?”
121Then they both ate of it, and
their shame was exposed to them.
They began to fasten leaves
from the garden to cover themselves.
In this way, Adam disobeyed
his Lord, and fell into error.
122Later, though, his Lord chose him,
turning to him, and guiding him.
123[At that time], God said, “Go down,
both of you, from the garden,
as enemies to each other. But if
My guidance comes to you, whoever
follows it shall not go astray
nor be brought to misery.
124“But whoever turns away
from My remembrance
shall find a straitened existence,
and We shall raise him up
blind on the day of resurrection.”
125He will say, “My Lord,
why did you raise me up blind,
when I possessed sight before?”
126God will say,
“Just as you forgot Our signs
when they came to you,
so this day
you shall be