۞ Allah made a covenant of old with the Children of Israel and We raised among them twelve chieftains, and Allah said: Lo! I am with you. If ye establish worship and pay the poor-due, and believe in My messengers and support them, and lend unto Allah a kindly loan, surely I shall remit your sins, and surely I shall bring you into Gardens underneath which rivers flow. Whoso among you disbelieveth after this will go astray from a plain road. 12 Then, for having broken their solemn pledge, We rejected them and caused their hearts to harden - [so that now] they distort the meaning of the [revealed] words, taking them out of their context; and they have forgotten much of what they had been told to bear in mind; and from all but a few of them thou wilt always experience treachery. But pardon them, and forbear: verily, God loves the doers of good. 13 We also made a covenant with those who say, "We are Christians." But they too have forgotten much of what they were enjoined. So, We have put enmity and hatred between them till the Day of Judgement; and soon God will declare to them what they have been doing. 14 People of the Book! Our Messenger has come to make clear to you much of what you have hidden of the Scriptures and to forgive you much. A light has now come to you from God and a clear Book, 15 By which Allah guides those who pursue His pleasure to the ways of peace and brings them out from darknesses into the light, by His permission, and guides them to a straight path. 16 Those who say that Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary are indeed those who disbelieved. Say: 'Who then could prevent any thing from Allah, if He willed to destroy the Messiah, son of Mary, together with his mother and all the people of the earth? For Allah is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them. He creates what He will and has power over all things' 17 Say the Jews and the Christians: "We are sons of God and beloved of Him." Say: "Why does He punish you then for your sins? No: You are only mortals, of His creation." He can punish whom He please and pardon whom He will, for God's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them, and everything will go back to Him. 18 People of the Book, now there has come to you Our Messenger, making things clear to you, upon an interval between the Messengers lest you should say, 'There has not come to us any bearer of good tidings, neither any warner. Indeed, there has come to you a bearer of good tidings and a warner; God is powerful over everything. 19