176. Of the textual word "aalihatak," another reading, as reported of Ibn `Abbas and Mujahid, has been "ilahatak" meaning "your divinity." But others have said that the original word is, as it is now in the text meaning "your deities," since Fir`awn had his own deity whom he worshipped apart from a few he had ordered his subjects to worship such as, e.g., the cow, the heifer, and a pearl that hung by his neck to which they had to bow down (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). Hence, add Zamakhshari, Razi and Qurtubi, Fir`awn's words elsewhere: "I am your highest Lord," implying that lesser gods received his sanction.

It is not imaginable too, adds Razi, that an intelligent person like Fir`awn should have said the words, "I am your highest Lord" in the sense of "I am your Lord God." Rather, he would have meant to claim that he was the sustainer of the world of his subjects, and, consequently, sanctioned the worship of a few other deities besides himself.

177. As understood by Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and `Ikrimah, this verse takes us right to the end of the episode involving Fir`awn and the Israelites: that is, at the shores where the Israelites had the sea before them and Fir`awn and his army at the horizon. They cried out, "Musa, we have been tortured both before and after you came to us." Musa re assured them that Allah will find a way out of the situation, destroy Fir`awn and his army, and give them the land in inheritance to see how they would behave in their turn. So that, with the next verse another phase of the episode is being narrated, although not in the order a common reader might expect (based on Ibn Jarir).

Yusuf Ali adds: "There is a slight note of quarrelsomeness in the people's answer. But Moses allays it by his own example and courage, and his vision of the future."

Zamakhshari writes that once `Amr b. `Ubayd happened to visit Mansur. He was having dinner with a bread or two in front of him. He invited ibn `Ubayd to join in and asked for some more bread to be brought. But they could not find any in the house. It so happened later that ibn `Ubayd once again visited Mansur when he had become an (Abbasi) Caliph. Ibn `Ubayd recited this verse: "... to see how you will act."