We sent down messengers before you and gave them wives and children. Yet it was not possible for a messenger to bring a sign, save by the command of God. Every age has had its revelation. 38 Allah blots out, and He establishes what He will. With Him is the Essence of the Book. 39 Whether We show thee a part of that We promise them, or We call thee to Us, it is thine only to deliver the Message, and Ours the reckoning. 40 See they not that We gradually reduce the land (of disbelievers, by giving it to the believers, in war victories) from its outlying borders. And Allah judges, there is none to put back His Judgement and He is Swift at reckoning. 41 Surely those who had gone before them had also plotted; but God's is all the planning, for He has knowledge of what each does. The unbelievers will soon learn for whom is the guerdon of Paradise. 42 Those who deny the truth say, "You are not God's messenger." Say, "Sufficient is God as my witness between me and you, and those who have knowledge of the Book." 43