The Koran

said he, "thus?" They said "We shall not water till the shepherds shall have
driven off; for our father is very aged."

So he watered for them-then retired to the shade and said, "O my Lord, of the
good thou hast caused me to meet with I stand in need."9

And one of them came to him, walking bashfully. Said she, "My father calleth
thee, that he may pay thee wages for thy watering for us." And when he came
to him and had told him his STORY, "Fear not," said he, "thou hast escaped
from an unjust people."

One of them said, "O my father, hire him: for the best thou canst hire is the
strong, the trusty."

He said, "Truly to one of these my two daughters I desire to marry thee, if
for eight years thou wilt be my hired servant:10 and if thou fulfil ten, it
shall be of thine own accord, for I wish not to deal hardly with thee. Thou
wilt find me, if God will, one of the upright."

He said, "Be it so between me and thee: Whichever of the two terms I fulfil,
there will be no injustice to me. And God is witness of what we say."

And when Moses had fulfilled the term, and was journeying with his family, he
perceived a fire on the mountain side. He said to his family, "Wait ye, for I
perceive a fire. Haply I may bring you tidings from it, or a brand from the
fire to warm you."

And when he came up to it, a Voice cried to him11 out of the bush from the
right side of the valley in the sacred hollow, "O Moses, I truly am God, the
Lord of the Worlds:

Throw down now thy rod." And when he saw it move as though it were a serpent,
he retreated and fled and returned not. "O Moses," cried the Voice, "draw
near and fear not, for thou art in safety.

Put thy hand into thy bosom; it shall come forth white, but unharmed: and
draw back thy hand12 to thee without fear. These shall be two signs from thy
Lord to Pharaoh and his nobles; for they are a perverse people."

He said, "O my Lord! truly I have slain one of them, therefore fear I lest
they slay me.

My brother Aaron is clearer of speech than I. Send him, therefore, with me as
a help, and to make good my cause, for I fear lest they treat me as an
impostor."

He said, "We will strengthen thine arm with thy brother, and we will give
power unto you both, and they shall not equal you in our signs. Ye twain and
they who shall follow you, shall gain the day."

And when Moses came to him with our demonstrative signs they said, "This is
nought but magical device. We never heard the like among our sires of old."

And Moses said, "My Lord best knoweth on whom He hath bestowed His guidance,
and whose shall be the recompense of the abode of Paradise. Verily, the
wicked shall not prosper."

And Pharaoh said, "O ye nobles, ye have no other God that I know of but
myself. Burn me then, Haman, bricks of clay,13 and build me a tower that I
may mount up to the God of Moses, for in sooth, I deem him a liar."

And he and his hosts behaved themselves proudly and unjustly on the earth,
and thought that they should never be brought back to us.

But we seized on him and his hosts and cast them into the sea: Behold, then,
the end of the wrongful doers:

And we made them imâms who invite to the fire of hell, and on the day of
Resurrection they shall not be helped.

We followed them with a curse in this world, and covered shall they be with
shame on the day of Resurrection.

And after we had destroyed the former generations, we gave the book of the
Law to Moses for man's enlightening, and a guidance and a mercy, that haply
they might reflect.

And thou wast not on the western slope of Sinai when we laid his charge on
Moses, nor wast thou one of the witnesses;

But we raised up generations after Moses, men whose days were lengthened;14
neither didst thou dwell among the inhabitants of Madian to rehearse to them
our signs, but we sent Apostles to them.15

Nor wast thou on the slope of Sinai when we called to Moses, but it is of the
mercy of thy Lord that thou warnest a people, to whom no warner had come
before thee, to the intent that they should reflect:

And that they should not say when a calamity shall befal them for their
previous handy work, "O our Lord! why hast thou not sent an Apostle to us?
Then we should have followed thy signs and have been of the believers."

Yet when the truth came to them from our very presence, they said, "Unless
the like powers be given to him that were given to Moses. . . ."16 But did
they not disbelieve in what of old was given to Moses? They said, "Two works
of sorcery17 have helped each other;" and they said, "We disbelieve them
both."

SAY: Bring then a Book from before God which shall be a better guide than
these, that I may follow it; if ye speak the truth.