Say thou unto My bondmen that they should say that which is best, Verily the Satan would stir up strife between them; verily the Satan is unto men ever an enemy manifest. 53 Your Lord knows better than you (people). He will have mercy on you or will punish you as He wills. We have not sent you to watch over them. Your Lord knows best about those in the heavens and the earth. 54 And thy Lord is Best Aware of all who are in the heavens and the earth. And we preferred some of the prophets above others, and unto David We gave the Psalms. 55 Say: "Call on those - besides Him - whom ye fancy: they have neither the power to remove your troubles from you nor to change them." 56 Those whom they worship seek to find intercessors for themselves with God. (They try to find out which of the intercessors) are closer to God. They have hope for His mercy and fear of His punishment; the punishment of your Lord is awesome. 57 And there is no city but that We will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment. That has ever been in the Register inscribed. 58 And nothing has prevented Us from sending [this message, like the earlier ones,] with miraculous signs [in its wake,] save [Our knowledge] that the people of olden times [only too often] gave the lie to them: thus, We provided for [the tribe of] Thamud the she-camel as a light-giving portent, and they sinned against it. And never did We send those signs for any other purpose than to convey a warning. 59 And recall when We said to you, (O Muhammad), that your Lord encompasses these people; and that We have made that vision that We have shown you, and the tree accursed in the Qur'an, but as a trial for people. We go about warning them, but each warning leads them to greater transgression. 60