[Remember, O children of Israel,] when ye said, O Moses, we will not bear patiently the having one _kind of_ food, _the manna and the quails_; therefore supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may produce for us _somewhat_ of that which the earth bringeth forth, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions:—he said _unto them_, Will ye take in exchange that which is worse for that which is better?—_But they refused to recede; therefore he supplicated God, and He said_, Get ye down into a great city;[289] for ye shall have _therein_ what ye have asked.—And the _marks of_ abjection and poverty were stamped upon them: _so these characteristics necessarily belong to them, even if they are rich, as necessarily as the stamped coin belongeth to its die_; and they returned with indignation from God. This was because they did disbelieve in the signs of God, and slay the prophets (_as Zechariah and John_) unjustly: this was because they rebelled and did transgress. (ii. 58.) And _remember_ when Moses asked drink for his people, _who had become thirsty in the desert_, and We said, Strike with thy rod the stone. (_It was the stone that fled away with his garment:[290] it was light, square, like the head of a man, marble or kedhdhán._[291]) _Accordingly he struck it_; and there gushed out from it twelve fountains, _according to the number of the tribes_, all men (_each tribe of them_) knowing their drinking-place. _And We said unto them_, Eat ye and drink of the supply of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting corruptly. (ii. 57.) _Remember_ also when We obtained your bond _that ye would do according to that which is contained in the Law_, and _had_ lifted up over you the mountain [namely Mount Sinai], _pulled it up by the roots and raised it over you when ye had refused to accept the Law, and We said_, Receive that which We have given you, with resolution, and remember that which is contained in it, _to do according thereto_: peradventure ye will fear _the Fire, or acts of disobedience_.—Then ye turned back after that; and had it not been for the grace of God towards you and His mercy, ye had certainly been of those who perish. And ye know those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, _by catching fish, when We had forbidden them to do so_ (_and they were the people of Eyleh_[292],) and We said unto them, Be ye apes, driven away from the society of men.—_Thereupon they became such, and they perished after three days._—And We made it (_namely that punishment_) an example unto those who were contemporary with them and those who came after them, and a warning to the pious. (ii. 60-62.)