۞ Allah made a covenant with the Children of Israel and raised among them twelve chieftains. He said: 'I shall be with you and if you establish the prayers and pay the obligatory charity; if you believe in My Messengers and assist them and give Allah a generous loan, I shall forgive you your sins and admit you to Gardens underneath which rivers flow. Whosoever amongst you disbelieves after that, he indeed has strayed from the Straight Path' 12 And because of their breaking their covenant, We have cursed them and made hard their hearts. They change words from their context and forget a part of that whereof they were admonished. Thou wilt not cease to discover treachery from all save a few of them. But bear with them and pardon them. Lo! Allah loveth the kindly. 13 And with those who say 'We are Christians' We took compact; and they have forgotten a portion of that they were reminded of. So We have stirred up among them enmity and hatred, till the Day of Resurrection; and God will assuredly tell them of the things they wrought. 14 O people of the Book, Our Apostle has come to you, announcing many things of the Scriptures that you have suppressed, passing over some others. To you has come light and a clear Book from God 15 to show the way of peace to those who seek His pleasure, to bring them out of darkness into light through His will and to guide them to the right path. 16 Assuredly they have disbelieved who say: verily God! He is the Masih, son of Maryam. Say thou; who can avail in aught against Allah, if He intended to destroy Masih, son of Maryam, and his mother and those on the earth altogether? And Allah's is the dominion of the heavens and the earth and that which is in between the twain. He createth whatsoever He will, and Allah is over everything Potent. 17 The Jews and the Nazarenes say: 'We are the children of Allah and His loved ones' Say: 'Why then does He punish you for your sins? Surely, you are mortals amongst what He created. He forgives whom He will, and punishes whom He will. For Allah is the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them. All shall return to Him' 18 People of the Book, Our Messenger has come to you to make things clear to you after an interval between the messengers, lest you say, "No bearer of glad tidings and no warner has come to us." So a bearer of glad tidings and a warner has indeed come to you. God has the power to do all things. 19