Know that the life of the world is but a play and a pastime, and an adornment and a self-glorification among you and vying in respect of riches and children; as the likeness of vegetation after rains whereof the growth pleaseth the husbandmen, then it withereth and thou seest it becoming yellow, then it becometh chaff. And in the Hereafter there is both a grievous torment and forgiveness from Allah and His pleasure, and the life of the world is but a vain bauble. 20 [Hence,] vie with one another in seeking to attain to your Sustainer's forgiveness, and [thus] to a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which has been readied for those who have attained to faith in God and His Apostle: such is the bounty of God which He grants unto whomever He wills - for God is limitless in His great bounty. 21 No evil befalls on the earth nor in your own souls, but it is in a book before We bring it into existence; surely that is easy to Allah: 22 This is announced lest ye sorrow for the sake of that which hath escaped you, or exult over that which He hath vouchsafed unto you: And Allah loveth not any vainglorious boaster: 23 those who are niggardly and bid others to be niggardly. And he who turns away, (should know that) Allah is Self-Sufficient, Immensely Praiseworthy. 24 Indeed, [even aforetime] did We send forth Our apostles with all evidence of [this] truth; and through them We bestowed revelation from on high, and [thus gave you] a balance [wherewith to weigh right and wrong,] so that men might behave with equity; and We bestowed [upon you] from on high [the ability to make use of] iron, in which there is awesome power as well as [a source of] benefits for man: and [all this was given to you] so that God might mark out those who would stand up for him and His Apostle, even though He [Himself] is beyond the reach of human perception. Verily, God is powerful, almighty! 25