Remember when Moses said to his people: "O my people, remember the favours that God bestowed on you when He appointed apostles from among you, and made you kings and gave you what had never been given to any one in the world. 20 Enter, my people, the Holy Land which Allah has written for you. Do not turn back in your footsteps, lest you shall turn to be losers' 21 They said: "O Moses! In this land are a people of exceeding strength: Never shall we enter it until they leave it: if (once) they leave, then shall we enter." 22 So two men who were among those who feared Allah and whom Allah had favoured said, “Enter upon them by force, through the gate; if you enter the gate, victory will be yours; and depend only upon Allah, if you have faith.” 23 [But] they said: "O Moses! Behold, never shall we enter that [land] so long as those others are in it. Go forth, then, thou and thy Sustainer, and fight, both of you! We, behold, shall remain here!" 24 Said he: my Lord I control not but myself and my brother, so decide Thou between us and this transgressing people. 25 God said, "The land is forbidden to them for forty years, while they wander around the earth, bewildered; do not grieve over these wicked people." 26