And Satan says, when the issue is decided, 'God surely promised you a true promise; and I promised you, then I failed you, for I had no authority over you, but that I called you, and you answered me. So do not blame me, but blame yourselves; I cannot aid you, neither can you aid me. I disbelieved in your associating me with God aforetime.' As for the evildoers, for them awaits a painful chastisement; 22 And those who believe and do good are made to enter gardens, beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them by their Lord's permission; their greeting therein is, Peace. 23 Hast thou not seen how God has struck a similitude? A good word is as a good tree -- its roots are firm, and its branches are in heaven; 24 it gives its produce every season by the leave of its Lord. So God strikes similitudes for men; haply they will remember. 25 but an evil word is like an evil tree torn out of the earth; it has no foothold. 26 God confirms those who believe with the firm word, in the present life and in the world to come; and God leads astray the evildoers; and God does what He will. 27