The hypocrites seek to outwit God -- but it is He who outwits them. And when they stand up for prayer, they do so reluctantly and to be seen by others, and they hardly remember God at all. 142 They are hesitant people belonging to neither side. You can find no other way for one whom God has caused to go astray. 143 Believers! Do not take the unbelievers as your allies in preference to the believers. Do you wish to offer Allah a clear proof of guilt against yourselves? 144 The hypocrites shall surely be in the lowest depth of the Fire; and you will find no helper for them. 145 Except those who shall yet repent and amend and hold fast by Allah and make their religion exclusive for Allah. These then shall be with the believers, and presently Allah shall give the believers a mighty hire. 146 And what will Allah gain by punishing you, if you acknowledge the truth and accept faith? And Allah is Most Appreciative, All Knowing. 147 ۞ Allah does not like disclosure of evil matters except by the oppressed; and Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing. 148 Whether you act virtuously, in public or in private, or pardon (people's) faults, God is All-forgiving and All-powerful. 149 Those who believe not in God and His apostles, and desire to differentiate between God and His messengers, and say: "We believe in some and not in the others," and wish to find a way (between affirmation and denial), 150 but, in fact, they are unbelievers, and for them We have prepared a humiliating torment. 151 To those who believe in God and His messengers, and make no distinction between any of them, to those -- We shall surely give them their rewards. God is most forgiving and merciful. 152