Tell My bondmen to speak that which is kindlier. Lo! the devil soweth discord among them. Lo! the devil is for man an open foe. 53 Your Lord is the Best Knower of you; if He willeth He will have mercy upon you, or if He willeth He will torment you. And We have not sent thee over them as a trustee. 54 We have given preference to some Prophets over others and We gave the psalms to David. 55 Say: 'Call to those whom you assert, other than Him. They have neither the power to remove your affliction nor to transfer it' 56 Those whom they call upon are themselves seeking the means of access to their Lord, each trying to be nearer to Him. They crave for His Mercy and dread His chastisement. Surely your Lord's punishment is to be feared. 57 Not a town is there but We are going to destroy it before the Day of Judgment or to torment it with a severe torment; that is in the Book inscribed. 58 And nothing has prevented Us from sending [this message, like the earlier ones,] with miraculous signs [in its wake,] save [Our knowledge] that the people of olden times [only too often] gave the lie to them: thus, We provided for [the tribe of] Thamud the she-camel as a light-giving portent, and they sinned against it. And never did We send those signs for any other purpose than to convey a warning. 59 When We said to you: "Verily your Lord circumscribes mankind," and showed you the vision and the accursed tree of the Qur'an, it was as a bone of contention for men. Thus do We (instil) fear in them; but they only transgress the more. 60