And if not for a word that preceded from your Lord, punishment would have been an obligation [due immediately], and [if not for] a specified term [decreed]. 129 Therefor (O Muhammad), bear with what they say, and celebrate the praise of thy Lord ere the rising of the sun and ere the going down thereof. And glorify Him some hours of the night and at the two ends of the day, that thou mayst find acceptance. 130 Stretch not thine eyes to that We have given pairs of them to enjoy - the flower of the present life, that We may try them therein and thy Lord's provision is better, and more enduring. 131 And command thy household for prayer, and persevere thou therein; We ask not of thee any provision; It is We who provide thee; and the happy end is for piety. 132 NOW THEY [who are blind to the truth] are wont to say: "If [Muhammad] would but produce for us a miracle from his Sustainer! [But] has there not come unto them a clear evidence [of the truth of this divine writ] in what is [to be found] in the earlier scriptures? 133 For [thus it is:] had We destroyed them by means of a chastisement ere this [divine writ was revealed,] they would indeed [be justified to] say [on Judgment Day]: "O our Sustainer! If only Thou hadst sent an apostle unto us, we would have followed Thy messages rather than be humiliated and disgraced [in the hereafter]!" 134 Tell them, (O Muhammad): "Everyone is waiting for his end. Wait, then, and you will soon know who are the people of the Right Way, and are rightly-guided." 135