Tell My bondmen to speak that which is kindlier. Lo! the devil soweth discord among them. Lo! the devil is for man an open foe. 53 Your Lord knows you very well. He will have mercy on you if He will, or punish you if He will. We have not sent you to be their guardian. 54 And your Lord knows best all who are in the heavens and the earth. And indeed, We have preferred some of the Prophets above others, and to Dawud (David) We gave the Zabur (Psalms). 55 Say: Call on those whom you assert besides Him, so they shall not control the removal of distress from you nor (its) transference. 56 Those unto whom they cry seek the way of approach to their Lord, which of them shall be the nearest; they hope for His mercy and they fear His doom. Lo! the doom of thy Lord is to be shunned. 57 There is no village except that it shall be destroyed or that We will punish it with a stern punishment before the Day of Resurrection. That is inscribed in the Book. 58 Nothing hindered Us from sending Our Signs except that the people of olden times rejected them as lies. We publicly sent the she-camel to the Thamud to open their eyes but they wronged her. We never send Our Signs except to cause people to fear. 59 And (remember) when We told you: "Verily! Your Lord has encompassed mankind (i.e. they are in His Grip)." And We made not the vision which we showed you (O Muhammad as an actual eye-witness and not as a dream on the night of Al-Isra') but a trial for mankind, and likewise the accursed tree (Zaqqum, mentioned) in the Quran. We warn and make them afraid but it only increases them in naught save great disbelief, oppression and disobedience to Allah. 60