Extolled be the glory of Him who conveyed his servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the furthest mosque, whose precincts we have blessed, to show him our signs! Verily, He it is who heareth and seeth! And we gave the Book of the Law to Moses and made it a guide to the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL--“Take ye no guardian beside Me, Seed of those whom we bare [in the ark] with Noah! Verily he was a grateful servant!” And we ordained for the Children of Israel in the Book,--“Ye shall surely work iniquity in the earth twice, and ye shall be puffed up with a mighty arrogance.” So when the threat came to pass for the first of the two sins, we sent upon you servants of ours armed with grievous punishment; and they went among your houses, and the threat was carried out. Then in turn we gave you victory over them, and helped you with riches and sons, and made you a very numerous host. If ye do well, ye will do well to your own souls, and if ye do ill, it will be to them also. And when the threat came to pass for the second sin,--[the enemy came] to afflict you, and to enter the mosque as they entered it the first time, and to utterly destroy what they had overpowered. Haply your Lord will have mercy on you! and if ye turn, we will turn; but we have made Hell for a prison for the unbelievers. Verily this Korān guideth to the right way and giveth good tidings to believers, Who do that which is right, that for them is a great reward; And that for those who believe not in the life to come, we have made ready an aching torment. Man prayeth for evil as he prayeth for good: for man was ever hasty. We have made the night and the day for two signs: then we blot out the sign of the night, and make the sign of the day manifest, that ye may seek bounty from your Lord, and may know the number of the years and the reckoning of time; and we have defined everything definitely. And every man’s fate we have fastened about his neck. And we will bring to him on the day of Resurrection a book which shall be offered to him open:-- “Read thy Book: thou thyself art accountant enough against thyself this day.” He who is guided, for his own good only shall he be guided, and he who erreth but to his own hurt; and one burthened soul shall not be burthened with another’s burthen. And we did not punish until we had sent an apostle. And when we resolved to destroy a city, we enjoined its men of wealth, but they disobeyed therein; so the sentence proved true, and we destroyed it utterly. How many generations have we swept away since Noah! and thy Lord knoweth and seeth enough of the sins of His servants.