(Muhammad), ask them about the (people of the) towns on the seashore. They had transgressed by catching fish on the Sabbath. Each Sabbath the fish came openly within their reach but not so on other days. Thus, We were testing them because of their evil deeds. 163 When a Section of them said: "Why do you admonish a people whom God is about to destroy or to punish severely?" They replied: "To clear ourselves of blame before your Lord, and that they may fear God. 164 Then when they forgot that wherewith they had been exhorted, We delivered those who restrained from evil, and We laid hold of those who did wrong with a distressing torment for they were wont to transgress. 165 And when they turned in disdain from that forbidding We said to them, 'Be you apes, miserably slinking!' 166 And your Lord declared He would send men against them who would inflict dreadful suffering on them till the Day of Doom, for your Lord is swift in retribution, though He is certainly forgiving and kind. 167 We split them up into sections on the earth. Some of them are righteous while some of them are otherwise, and We tested them with blessings and misfortunes, so that they might return to the right path. 168 Then there succeeded them a posterity; they inherited the Book, taking this near world's gear and saying: surety it will be forgiven. And if there cometh unto them gear like thereunto they shall take it. Hath there not lain upon them the bond of the Book that they shall not say of God aught but the truth? And they have read that which is therein. And the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who fear. Understand then ye not? 169 As for those who adhere to the Book and are firm in devotion, We shall certainly not let the wages of those who are upright to go waste. 170 ۞ And recall when We shook the mountain over them as though it were a canopy, and they thought that it was going to fall over them; and We said: 'Hold firmly to that which We have given you, and remember what is in it, that you may guard against evil. 171