We will rehearse unto thee, [O Moḥammad, somewhat] of the history of Moses [Moosá] and Pharaoh [Fir´own or Far´oon],[255] with truth, for _the sake of_ people who believe. Verily Pharaoh exalted himself in the land _of Egypt_, and divided its inhabitants into parties _to serve him_. He rendered weak one class of them, _namely the children of Israel_, slaughtering their male children, and preserving alive their females, _because one of the diviners said unto him, A child will be born among the children of Israel, who will be the means of the loss of thy kingdom;_—for he was [one] of the corrupt doers. And We desired to be gracious unto those who had been deemed weak in the land, and to make them models of religion, and to make them the heirs _of the possessions of Pharaoh_, and to establish them in the land _of Egypt, and in Syria_, and to show Pharaoh and Hámán[256] and their forces what they feared from them. And We said, by revelation, unto the mother of Moses, _the child above-mentioned, of whose birth none knew save his sister_, Suckle him; and when thou fearest for him cast him in the river _Nile_, and fear not _his being drowned_, nor mourn _for his separation_; for We will restore him unto thee, and will make him [one] of the apostles.[257] _So she suckled him three months, during which he wept not; and then she feared for him, wherefore she put him into an ark pitched within and furnished with a bed for him, and she closed it and cast it in the river Nile by night._ And the family (_or servants_) of Pharaoh lighted upon him _in the ark on the morrow of that night_;[258] _so they put it before him, and it was opened, and Moses was taken forth from it, sucking milk from his thumb:_ [this happened] that he might be unto them _eventually_ an enemy (_slaying their men_) and an affliction (_making slaves of their women_); for Pharaoh and Hámán (_his Wezeer_) and their forces were sinners; _wherefore they were punished by his hand_. And the wife of Pharaoh said, _when he and his servants had proposed to kill him_, He _is_ delight of the eye unto me and unto thee: do not ye kill him: peradventure he may be serviceable unto us, or we may adopt him as a son. _And they complied with her desire_; and they knew not _the consequence_.