O believers, fear God, and be with the truthful ones. 119 It was not proper for the people of Madinah and those desert Arabs around them to hold back from following God's Messenger, and to prefer their own lives to his life. This is because whenever they suffer from thirst or weariness or hunger for God's cause, and whenever they take any step which provokes those who deny the truth, or inflicts any loss upon the enemy, it shall be counted as a good deed in the sight of God, God will not deny the righteous their reward, 120 Also, they would not have spent anything, great or small, for the cause of God or travel through a valley without God decreeing a reward for them far better than whatever they had done. 121 ۞ And it is not for the believers to march forth all together. So why should not a band from each party of them march forth so that they may gain understanding in religion and that when they come back unto them, haply they might warn their people when they come back unto them, haply they may beware! 122