Overall meaning : Pharaoh made a boastful proclamation among his people. ‘My people,’ he said, ‘is the kingdom of Egypt not mine? Are these rivers which flow at my feet and through my orchards and palaces not mine also? Can you not see my kingdom and power?! I am indeed better than weak and contemptible Moses who is not eloquent enough to make himself understood! If what he claims is true, why have no bracelets of gold been given to him? Why have no angels come to support him?!’
Thus did Pharaoh fool his people, and they obeyed him, for they were an unbelieving people. When they incurred Our anger due to their stubborn unbelief and disobedience, We inflicted Our retribution on them and drowned them all in the sea; and so We made them a precedent—the doomed ancestors of every unbelieving generation deserving of punishment—and an example to those after them.