And say to My servants, that they say words that are kindlier. For surely Satan provokes strife between them, and Satan is ever a manifest foe to man. 53 It is your Lord that knoweth you best: If He please, He granteth you mercy, or if He please, punishment: We have not sent thee to be a disposer of their affairs for them. 54 Your Lord knows best about everyone in the heavens and on the earth. We gave some prophets more than others: We gave David the Psalms. 55 Say: Call on those whom you assert besides Him, so they shall not control the removal of distress from you nor (its) transference. 56 The devoted bondmen whom these disbelievers worship, themselves seek the means of proximity from their Lord, that who among them is the closest (to his Lord), and hope for His mercy and fear His punishment; indeed the punishment of your Lord is to be feared. 57 There is not a township but We shall destroy it ere the Day of Resurrection, or punish it with dire punishment. That is set forth in the Book (of Our decrees). 58 And nothing has prevented Us from sending [this message, like the earlier ones,] with miraculous signs [in its wake,] save [Our knowledge] that the people of olden times [only too often] gave the lie to them: thus, We provided for [the tribe of] Thamud the she-camel as a light-giving portent, and they sinned against it. And never did We send those signs for any other purpose than to convey a warning. 59 And recall what time We said unto thee: verily thy Lord hath encompassed mankind. And We made the vision We shewed thee but a temptation for men, and likewise the tree accurst in the Qur'an. And We frighten them, but it only increaseth them in exorbitance great. 60