۞ God certainly made a solemn covenant with the children of Israel and raised among them twelve elders. God said to them, "I am with you if you will be steadfast in your prayers, pay (zakat) religious tax, believe in My Messengers, support them with reverence, and give a generous loan for the cause of God." We shall expiate your bad deeds and admit you to the gardens wherein streams flow. Whichever of you turns to disbelief after this has certainly gone astray (from the right path)." 12 Then, for having broken their solemn pledge, We rejected them and caused their hearts to harden - [so that now] they distort the meaning of the [revealed] words, taking them out of their context; and they have forgotten much of what they had been told to bear in mind; and from all but a few of them thou wilt always experience treachery. But pardon them, and forbear: verily, God loves the doers of good. 13 We also took a covenant from those who said: 'We are Christians'; but they forgot a good portion of the teaching they had been imparted with. Wherefore We aroused enmity and spite between them till the Day of Resurrection, and ultimately Allah will tell them what they had contrived. 14 O People given the Book(s)! Indeed this Noble Messenger (Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) of Ours has come to you, revealing to you a lot of the things which you had hidden in the Book, and forgiving a lot of them; indeed towards you has come a light* from Allah, and a clear Book. (* The Holy Prophet is a light from Allah). 15 Wherewith Allah guideth all who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace and safety, and leadeth them out of darkness, by His will, unto the light,- guideth them to a path that is straight. 16 Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely, Allah-- He is the Messiah, son of Marium. Say: Who then could control anything as against Allah when He wished to destroy the Messiah son of Marium and his mother and all those on the earth? And Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between them; He creates what He pleases; and Allah has power over all things, 17 And [both] the Jews and the Christians say: "We are God's children, and His beloved ones." Say: "Why, then, does He cause you to suffer for your sins? Nay, you are but human beings of His creating. He forgives whom He wills, and He causes to suffer whom He wills: for God's is the dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and with Him is all journeys' end." 18 O followers of the Book! indeed Our Apostle has come to you explaining to you after a cessation of the (mission of the) apostles, lest you say: There came not to us a giver of good news or a warner, so indeed there has come to you a giver of good news and a warner; and Allah has power over all things. 19