O People who Believe! Fear Allah, and seek the means towards Him, and strive in His cause, in the hope of attaining success. 35 Had the unbelievers had twice as much as the wealth of the whole earth in order to ransom themselves from the torment in the life hereafter, still their ransom would not have been accepted. For them there will be a painful torment. 36 They would desire to go forth from the fire, and they shall not go forth from it, and they shall have a lasting punishment. 37 As for the thief -male or female - cut off the hands of both. This is a recompense for what they have done, and an exemplary punishment from Allah. Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. 38 So if one repents after his wrongdoing and reforms himself, Allah will incline towards him with His mercy; indeed Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful. 39 Do you not know that the kingdom of the heavens and earth belongs to God? He punishes whom He will and forgives whom He pleases. God has power over all things. 40 ۞ O APOSTLE! Be not grieved by those who vie with one another in denying the truth: such as those who say with their mouths, "We believe," the while their hearts do not believe; and such of the Jewish faith as eagerly listen to any falsehood, eagerly listen to other people without having come to thee [for enlightenment]. They distort the meaning of the [revealed] words, taking them out of their context, saying [to themselves,] "If such-and-such [teaching] is vouchsafed unto you, accept it; but if it is not vouchsafed unto you, be on your guard!" [Be not grieved by them] for if God wills anyone to be tempted to evil, thou canst in no wise prevail with God in his behalf. It is they whose hearts God is not willing to cleanse. Theirs shall be ignominy in this world, and awesome suffering in the life to come 41 Listeners for the sake of falsehood! Greedy for illicit gain! If then they have recourse unto thee (Muhammad) judge between them or disclaim jurisdiction. If thou disclaimest jurisdiction, then they cannot harm thee at all. But if thou judgest, judge between them with equity. Lo! Allah loveth the equitable. 42 Yet how will they make thee their judge seeing they have the Torah, wherein is God's judgment, then thereafter turn their backs? They are not believers. 43