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 Then (the apostles) asked of God's assistance, and every arrogant tyrant was frustrated: 15 Gehenna (Hell) is before him and he is given oozing pus to drink, 16 which he gulps and can scarcely swallow. Death will come to him from every side, yet he cannot die, and yet to come is a dreadful punishment. 17 [This, then, is] the parable of those who are bent on denying their Sustainer: all their works are as ashes which the wind blows about fiercely on a stormy day: [in the life to come,] they cannot achieve any benefit whatever from all [the good] that they may have wrought: for this [denial of God] is indeed the farthest one can go astray. 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 nor is this difficult for God. 20 Together they shall all come before Allah. Then the weak will say to those who were proud: 'We were your followers. Can you help us in anything against the punishment of Allah' They will say: 'Had Allah guided us we would have guided you. It is now the same for us whether we cannot endure or bear patiently, we have no place of refuge' 21