And those who disbelieve in God's signs and the encounter with Him -- they despair of My mercy, and there awaits them a painful chastisement.) 23 But the only answer of his people was that they said, 'Slay him, or burn him!' Then God delivered him from the fire; surely in that are signs for a people who believe. 24 And he said, 'You have only taken to yourselves idols, apart from God, as a mark of mutual love between you in the present life; then upon the Day of Resurrection you will deny one another, and you will curse one another, and your refuge will be the Fire, and you will have no helpers.' 25 ۞ And Lut believed in Him, and he said: I am fleeing to my Lord, surely He is the Mighty, the Wise. 26 And We bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob, and We established the prophethood and the Scripture among his seed, and We gave him his reward in the world, and lo! in the Hereafter he verily is among the righteous. 27 And (remember) Lut: behold, he said to his people: "Ye do commit lewdness, such as no people in Creation (ever) committed before you. 28 You commit unnatural acts with men and cut off the way (of procreation), and commit obscenities in your gatherings." The only answer his people made was: "Bring the punishment of God, if you are truthful." 29 He said, 'My Lord, help me against the people that work corruption.' 30