۞ God certainly made a solemn covenant with the children of Israel and raised among them twelve elders. God said to them, "I am with you if you will be steadfast in your prayers, pay (zakat) religious tax, believe in My Messengers, support them with reverence, and give a generous loan for the cause of God." We shall expiate your bad deeds and admit you to the gardens wherein streams flow. Whichever of you turns to disbelief after this has certainly gone astray (from the right path)." 12 For their disregard of their solemn covenant with God, We condemned the Israelites and made their hearts hard as stone. Now they displace the words of God and have forgotten their share of the guidance that they had received. Still you receive news of the treachery of all but a few of them. Forgive and ignore them. God loves the righteous ones. 13 And [likewise,] from those who say: "Behold, we are Christians." We have accepted a solemn pledge: and they, too, have forgotten much of what they had been told to bear in mind - wherefore We have given rise among them to enmity and hatred, [to last] until Resurrection Day: and in time God will cause them to understand what they have contrived. 14 O ye people of the Book! surely there hath come Our apostle unto you expounding unto you much in the Book that ye were wont to hide, and much he passeth over. Of a surety, there hath come unto you from Allah a light and a Book luminous. 15 whereby God guides to the ways of peace all who seek His good pleasure, bringing them from darkness to the light, by His will, and guiding them to a straight path. 16 Surely, in disbelief are they who say that Allah is the Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary). Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Who then has the least power against Allah, if He were to destroy the Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary), his mother, and all those who are on the earth together?" And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them. He creates what He wills. And Allah is Able to do all things. 17 And (both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are the children of Allah and His loved ones." Say: "Why then does He punish you for your sins?" Nay, you are but human beings, of those He has created, He forgives whom He wills and He punishes whom He wills. And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and to Him is the return (of all). 18 O people of the Book! surely there hath come unto you Our apostle, after a cessation of the apostles, expounding unto you, lest ye may say: there came not unto us a bearer of glad tidings nor a warner. So now there surely hath come unto you a bearer of glad tidings and a warner; and Allah is over everything Potent. 19