Then the unbelievers told their Messengers: "You will have to return to the fold of our faith or else we shall banish you from our land." Thereupon their Lord revealed to them: "We will most certainly destroy these wrong-doers, 13 and will then cause you to settle in the land as their successors. That is the reward for him who fears to stand for reckoning and holds My threat in awe." 14 And they sought help (from their Lord) and every froward potentate was bought to naught; 15 with hell awaiting him; and he shall be made to drink of the water of most bitter distress, 16 He will sip it, yet will not be able to gulp it down. Death will crowd in upon him from every side, but die he will not. A terrible torment trails him. 17 A similitude of those who disbelieve in their Lord: Their works are as ashes which the wind bloweth hard upon a stormy day. They have no control of aught that they have earned. That is the extreme failure. 18 Hast thou not seen that God created the heavens and the earth in truth? If He will, He can put you away and bring a new creation; 19 nor is this difficult for God. 20 And all [mankind] will appear before God [on the Day of Judgment]; and then the weak will say unto those who had gloried in their arrogance: "Behold, We were but your followers: can you, then, relieve us of something of God's chastisement?" [And the others] will answer: "If God would but show us the way [to salvation,] we would indeed guide you [towards it]. It is [now] all one, as far as we are concerned, whether we grieve impatiently or endure [our lot] with patience: there is no escape for us!" 21