Those who deny the truth said to their messengers, "We shall banish you from our land unless you return to our ways." But their Lord inspired the messengers, saying, "We shall destroy the evil-doers, 13 and will then cause you to settle in the land as their successors. That is the reward for him who fears to stand for reckoning and holds My threat in awe." 14 They sought Our judgement. And (thanks to that judgement) every obstinate tyrant opposed to the Truth was brought to naught. 15 beyond him Gehenna, and he is given to drink of oozing pus, 16 He will drink it little by little and will not be able to swallow it agreeably, and death will come to him from every quarter, but he shall not die; and there shall be vehement chastisement before him. 17 The works of those who deny their Lord are like ashes which the wind scatters on a stormy day: they shall gain nothing from what they do. To act thus is to stray far into error. 18 Beholdest thou not that Allah hath created the heavens and the earth with a purpose? If He willed He would make you pass away and bring a creation new. 19 that is no difficult thing for God. 20 Then all of them will appear exposed before Allah, and the weak ones will say to the haughty ones: "We merely followed you. Will you, then, protect us from Allah's chastisement?" They will say: "Had Allah shown us the Way to our salvation, we would surely have also guided you. Now it is all the same whether we cry or suffer patiently, we have no escape." 21