If the decree (of respite) had not been pronounced by your Lord, (the inevitable judgement would have ensued); but a term is fixed (for everything). 129 So be thou patient under what they say, and proclaim thy Lord's praise before the rising of the sun, and before its setting, and proclaim thy Lord's praise in the watches of the night, and at the ends of the day; haply thou wilt be well-pleasing. 130 Do not turn your eyes covetously towards the embellishments of worldly life that We have bestowed upon various kinds of people to test them. But the clean provision bestowed upon you by your Lord is better and more enduring. 131 Bid your people say their prayers, and be constant in their observance. We demand nothing from you. It is We who provide for you, and the best end is that of righteousness. 132 They say: 'Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord' Did not a clear sign come to them in the preceding Scrolls? 133 Had We destroyed them with a punishment before this, they would have said: 'Our Lord, why did You not send us a Messenger so that we could have followed Your verses before we were humiliated and degraded' 134 Say, "Each [of us] is waiting; so wait. For you will know who are the companions of the sound path and who is guided." 135