When the decree of God is issued, satan will say, "God's promise to you was true, but I, too, made a promise to you and disregarded it. I had no authority over you. I just called you and you answered. Do not blame me but blame yourselves. I cannot help you and you cannot help me. I did not agree with your belief that I was equal to God." The unjust will face a painful punishment. 22 The righteously striving believers will be admitted to the gardens wherein streams flow and they will live therein forever, by the permission of their Lord. Their greeting to each other will be, "Peace be with you." 23 Consider (Muhammad) how God (in a parable) compares the blessed Word to that of a blessed tree which has firm roots and branches rising up into the sky 24 it yields its fruit each season with its Lord's permission, God makes such comparisons for people, in order that they may take heed, 25 but an evil word is like an evil tree torn out of the earth; it has no foothold. 26 Allah confirms those who believe with the sure word in this world's life and in the hereafter, and Allah causes the unjust to go astray, and Allah does what He pleases. 27