How many a village has turned in its pride against the Order of their Lord and His Messengers! We made it a stern reckoning, and punished it with a horrible punishment. 8 So it tasted the evil result of its conduct, and the end of its affair was perdition. 9 God has prepared a severe punishment for them. So, fear God, O men of understanding, who have believed. God has sent down to you a Reminder 10 The Noble Messenger who recites the clear verses of Allah to you, so that he may take those who accept faith and do good deeds, away from the realms of darkness towards light; and whoever accepts faith in Allah and does good deeds, Allah will admit him into Gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them for ever and ever; indeed Allah has kept an excellent sustenance for him. 11 It is Allah who has created the seven heavens, and of the earth their like, and the Command descends between them so that you know Allah is powerful over all things, and that Allah encompasses everything in knowledge. 12