And if not for a word that preceded from your Lord, punishment would have been an obligation [due immediately], and [if not for] a specified term [decreed]. 129 Therefore be patient with what they say, and celebrate (constantly) the praises of thy Lord, before the rising of the sun, and before its setting; yea, celebrate them for part of the hours of the night, and at the sides of the day: that thou mayest have (spiritual) joy. 130 Do not stretch your eyes at the flower of this life which We have given couples to enjoy, it is with this that We might try them; and the provision of your Lord is better, and more enduring. 131 Bid your people say their prayers, and be constant in their observance. We demand nothing from you. It is We who provide for you, and the best end is that of righteousness. 132 NOW THEY [who are blind to the truth] are wont to say: "If [Muhammad] would but produce for us a miracle from his Sustainer! [But] has there not come unto them a clear evidence [of the truth of this divine writ] in what is [to be found] in the earlier scriptures? 133 And if we had destroyed them with some punishment before it, they would assuredly have said: Our Lord! If only Thou hadst sent unto us a messenger, so that we might have followed Thy revelations before we were (thus) humbled and disgraced! 134 Tell them, (O Muhammad): "Everyone is waiting for his end. Wait, then, and you will soon know who are the people of the Right Way, and are rightly-guided." 135