Overall meaning : We sent forth Moses with our miraculous signs bearing witness to his truthfulness to Pharaoh and his nobles. Moses said to them, ‘I am a messenger to you from the Lord of all the worlds.’ Nonetheless, when he presented Our signs to them, they merely laughed at them! Although each fresh sign We showed them was greater and more considerable than the one that came before it, they stubbornly persisted in their unbelief, and so We inflicted all manner of punishments on them (such as famine and scarcity of crops), so that they might turn to Us and repent of their unbelief.
‘You, magician,’ they said when the torment descended upon them, ‘pray for us to your Lord by virtue of the covenant He has made with you to remove our affliction. We will certainly accept your guidance and follow you if He does.’ Yet when We removed their suffering, they went back on their pledge and persisted in their unbelief!