Then the unbelievers told their Messengers: "You will have to return to the fold of our faith or else we shall banish you from our land." Thereupon their Lord revealed to them: "We will most certainly destroy these wrong-doers, 13 and will then cause you to settle in the land as their successors. That is the reward for him who fears to stand for reckoning and holds My threat in awe." 14 They sought a judgment, then every tyrant was disappointed. 15 Gehenna (Hell) is before him and he is given oozing pus to drink, 16 As they sip the unpleasant water, death will approach them from all sides, but they will never die. In addition to this, they will experience the most intense torment. 17 [This, then, is] the parable of those who are bent on denying their Sustainer: all their works are as ashes which the wind blows about fiercely on a stormy day: [in the life to come,] they cannot achieve any benefit whatever from all [the good] that they may have wrought: for this [denial of God] is indeed the farthest one can go astray. 18 Do you not see that Allah created the heavens and the earth in Truth? Were He to will, He could take you away and bring a new creation. 19 And this is not at all difficult for Allah. 20 They shall all appear before God and the weak will say to those who behaved proudly, "We were your followers. Can you protect us from God's punishment?" They will reply, "Had God given us guidance, we would have guided you. It is all the same whether we are patient or impatient; there is no escape for us." 21